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RICHMOND HILL. 



RICHMOND HILL; 



DESCRIPTIVE AND HISTORICAL 

POEM: 

ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE PRINCIPAL OBJECTS VIEWED FROM THAT 

BEAUTIFUL EMINENCE. 

DECORATED WITH ENGRAVINGS. 



BY 



THE AUTHOR OF INDIAN ANTIQUITIES. 



LONDON : 

PRINTED BY W. BULMER AND CO. CLEVELAND-ROW, 

FOR THE AUTHOR ; 
AND SOLD BY WILLIAM MILLER, ALBEMARLE-STREET. 

1807. 



TO 



THE RIGHT HONOURABLE 



LORD VISCOUNT SIDMOUTH, 

THESE PAGES, 



DESCRIPTIVE OF SCENES 



OF UNRIVALLED BEAUTY AND INTEREST, 



THE 



FAVOURED HAUNTS OF KINGS AND STATESMEN, 



ARE RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED 



BY 



HIS LORDSHIP'S 

EVER OBLIGED AND FAITHFUL SERVANT, 




THOMAS MAURICE. 



SUBSCRIBERS. 



HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS 

THE DUKE OF GLOUCESTER. 



Lord Bishop of London, 10 copies. 

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Duke of Portland, 5 copies, 

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Earl Spencer, 5 copies. 

Lord Viscount Sidmouth, 5 copies. 

Lord Bishop of Lincoln, 2 copies. 

Duke of Richmond. 

Dutchess of Richmond. 

Earl of Bristol. 

Countess of Bristol. 

Earl of Lonsdale, 5 copies. 

Earl of Buckinghamshire. 

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Bristol, 2 copies. 
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PREFACE. 



1 h e Poem which I have now the honour to submit to the 
indulgent Public, has reference not only to the beautiful 
Hill of Richmond itself, and its immediate environs, but, as 
was intimated in the Proposals, takes an extensive view of 
the neighbouring country on each side of the majestic River 
that glides through it. Whoever has, from that eminence, 
calmly contemplated the vast, the varied, the delightful 
landscape which it commands, will scarcely think any de- 
scription of its charms, however bold and glowing the lan- 
guage, an exaggeration ! In fact the boldest sketch from the 
pencil of the most sublime artist could only feebly pourtray 
them ; no representation of them in the way of engraving 
is in consequence here attempted : the plates are solely 
intended to illustrate the antiquities of this charming spot ; 

B 



ii PREFACE. 

the boast of enraptured Britons, the admiration of delighted 
foreigners ! 

In this wide survey many grand and interesting objects 
strike the eye, and many important historical events crowd 
upon the attention. To enter into any minute description 
of those objects, or any detailed narrative of those events, is 
not the province of poetry ; a rapid sketch of the glories of 
those ancient sovereigns who made Richmond their prin- 
cipal residence, of those renowned heroes whose achieve- 
ments in arms are the wonder of our childhood, and the 
delight of our maturer years, was all that was necessary in 
an effort of this kind ; and certainly they ought not wholly 
to be omitted at a period when an unprincipled Usurper, 
the determined foe of Britain, is spreading desolation through 
Europe : at the same time it will be recollected that the Poem 
itself, far from being intended to increase the flame of san- 
guinary warfare, commences and terminates with invocations 
at the shrine of Peace. 

The magnificent palace erected by Henry VII. and the 
celebrated monastery founded by Henry V. at Sheen, the 
ancient name of Richmond, forming such conspicuous 
objects in the Poem, the following short historical account 
of them both is subjoined from authentic documents, for the 
most part deposited in the British Museum. 



PREFACE. iii 

There seems to have been, immemorially, a palace of the 
British monarchs at this place. " The former kings of this 
land," says Holinshed, " being weary of the citie, used 
customarily thither to resorte, as to a place of pleasure, and 
serving highly to their recreation."* Edward I. and II. are 
proved to have resided there by a variety of public acts and 
grants, dated at Sheen, as it has been observed Richmond 
was then called. Edward III. after a long and victorious 
reign, died of grief for the loss of his heroic son, the Black 
Prince, at his palace of Sheen, June 51st, 1377. The beau- 
tiful and beloved queen of Richard II. expired within its 
walls; and that monarch was so affected by the circumstance, 
that, according to Aubrey, " he caused it to be demolished, 
and laid level with the ground. "t However, Aubrey's ex- 
pressions are doubtless too strong ; its demolition could only 
have been partial, since Henry V. the reformed Hal, the 
founder of the monasteries of Sheen and of Sion, is affirmed 
to have restored it to its former splendour. 

In the year 149 8 it was accidentally consumed by fire ; 
but Henry VII. at that time residing there, rebuilt it from 
the ground, in a magnificent manner, " after the most ex- 
quisite way of architecture (says Aubrey) of that age, i. e. 

* Holinshed's Chronicon. anno 1304. 
f Aubrey's Surry, vol. i. p. 59- 



iv PREFACE. 

after Henry Vllth's chapel, at Westminster,"* and gave it 
his own name of Richmond. He died there A. D. 1509 
Henry VIII. attached to his more superb palaces of Nonsuch 
and Hampton, only occasionally resided here ; but a beautiful 
elevated spot in the park still bears the name of " King 
Henry's mount," as from its summit, which commands a 
view of London and its plain, that sanguinary Prince is re- 
corded to have watched, with impatience, the ascent of a 
rocket, which was fired to announce the execution of Anne 
Boleyne ; that execution which opened the way to his im- 
mediate marriage with Lady Jane Seymour. He afterwards, 
by letters patent, dated the 3 3d year of his reign, granted it 
to his divorced queen, Anne of Cleves, for her life, by the 
name of the lordship and manor of Sheen, otherwise called 
Richmond. It is also stated that he permitted his favourite, 
Cardinal Wolsey, to occupy this palace after the surrender 
to the King of his own at Hampton Court, and it is probable 
that he resided at this place until his disgrace. It was a very 
favourite residence of Elizabeth, whose death at this palace 
in 1603, and the melancholy circumstances of it, are re- 
corded with so much interest and apparent veracity by Sir 
Robert Cary. Charles I. must have been partial to the spot, 
from his making here the fine park, called the New Park, 

* Aubrey's Surry, vol. i. p. 5.9- 



PREFACE. t 

eight miles in circumference, and surrounding the whole 
with a brick wall, still remaining entire. 

During the civil distractions that ensued, and the usur- 
pation of Cromwell, this venerable pile, together with all 
the other royal mansions, suffered considerably. In the 
survey of those palaces, made by the commissioners of 
parliament, in the year 1649, soon after the murder of 
Charles, Richmond Palace is denominated "a large and fair 
structure of free-stone of three stories high, covered with 
lead." The great hall is said to have been 100 feet in 
length, and 40 in breadth ; the chapel 96 feet long and 40 
broad, " with cathedral seats and pews ;" and the whole 
building to have been covered with lead, and embattled, and 
to have had erected upon it " fourteen turrets also covered 
with lead, standing a convenient heighth above the said 
leads ; which turrets very much adorn and set forth the 
fabric of the whole structure, and are a very graceful orna- 
ment unto the whole house, being perspicuous to the country 
round about." 

It is unnecessary to swell this summary description with 
an account of the immense number of its spacious apart- 
ments for the reception of the royal family and the numerous 
officers attendant upon all its branches, the rooms of state, 
the wardrobe, the galleries, open or closed, one 200 feet in 



vi PREFACE. 

length, another used for a library (a librarian, as we shall 
see hereafter, with an appropriate salary, being appointed to 
superintend it) : the reader by referring to the original 
Return, preserved in the Augmentation Office, and printed 
entire by the Antiquarian Society, may be gratified with 
every minute particular of this kind. Its exact boundaries, 
as well as the whole extent of ground on which it stood, 
are accurately ascertained in the following, the concluding 
paragraph. 

" The whole messuage, called Richmond Court, and the 
site thereof, is bounded with Richmond Green upon the 
north, with a lane leading from the said green to the Thames 
on the west, with the said river upon the south-west, with 
a parcel of land, called the Fryery, upon the south, and 
with a way or lane leading from Richmond Green, into the 
said Fryers, upon the east, and contains upon admeasure- 
ment, ten acres, one rood, and ten perch." — Vetusta Monu- 
menta, vol. 1. p. 4. 

The survey was preparatory to the sale of the premises, 
and it is on record that the materials of the palace were sold 
for 10, 7 82/. Soon after the return of Charles II. it was 
restored to the Royal Family, but probably in a very deso- 
lated and dismantled condition. That Monarch, though 
educated at Richmond under the care of Bishop Juppa, seems 



PREFACE. vii 

totally to have neglected the place of his education for his 
favourite and certainly more magnificent palace and castle of 
Windsor. After this period, the deserted palace of Rich- 
mond fell rapidly into decay ; the greatest part of it was 
taken down during the last century, and the site granted 
on lease to various noblemen and gentlemen. Upon that 
site at present stand the Duke of Queensbury's, the Coun- 
tess of Northampton's, and the elegant villa, late Sir Charles 
Asgill's, but now belonging to Witshed Keene, Esq. What 
remains of the old palace consists of the range of buildings 
called in the survey " the Wardrobe," and is let on lease 
to William Robertson, Esq. and Matthew Skinner, Esq. 
That adjoining the ancient gateway is tenanted by David 
Dundas, Esq. Surgeon to his Majesty ; and in the garden of 
Mr. Skinner still exists the venerable yew-tree, of large 
dimensions, valued in the said survey at 10/. 

I shall now, in as summary a manner, present the reader 
with the history of the ancient convent of Sheen. 

" About a quarter of a mile to the north-west of the old 
palace above described, was situated the hamlet of West 
Sheen, now utterly extinct. At this place Henry V. with 
the professed view of expiating the crime (the murder of 
Richard) by which his family had mounted the throne of 
England, in A. D. 1414, founded a Carthusian Priory for 



viii PREFACE. 

forty monks, which he denominated the House of Jesus of 
Bethlehem at Sheen." At the same time, and probably 
influenced by the same motives, he also founded at Sion, 
on the opposite shore of the Thames, a convent for sixty 
nuns of the order of St. Bridget. An old account of these 
institutions in the British Museum, says, that by the order 
of the Royal Founder, in these convents " a constant succes- 
sion of holy exercises was ordained to be kept up, night and 
day, to the end of time, so that when the one had finished 
their devotions, those of the other should instantly begin."* 
Shakspeare, who had read a similar account in Hall, 
Holinshed, and those other historians current in his day, 
who so amply supplied him with materials for the drama, in 
his noble and pathetic address to the Deity, previous to the 
battle of Agincourt, puts these corresponding expressions 
into the mouth of King Henry V. 

Not to-day, O Lord ! 



not to-day ! think thou upon the fault 
My father made in compassing the crown : 

1 Richard's body have interr d anew, 

And on it have bestow'd more contrite tears 
Than from it issued forced drops of blood. 

* " Account of an English nunnery at Lisbon," the remains of the convent 
of Sion, whose inhabitants at the Reformation are said to have emigrated in 
exile, first into Flanders, and finally to have settled at Lisbon. London 1622. 






PREFACE. ix 

Five hundred poor I have in yearly pay, 
Who twice a day their wither'd hands hold up 
Towards Heav'n, to pardon blood — and I have built 
Two chantries, where the sad and solemn priests 
Sing still for Richard's soul. 

Long before, indeed, that regicidal father had confessed 
the weight of this crime lying on his conscience, and at the 
conclusion of Richard II. had expressed a resolution to ex- 
piate his offence by a different mode of penance : 

I'll make a voyage to the Holy Land, 

To wash this blood off from my guilty hand. 

The dimensions of both were very considerable ; the 
buildings magnificent for those times ; the internal decora- 
tions sumptuous ; and the endowments were worthy of the 
Royal Founder. His successors on the throne heaped dona- 
tions upon them to a vast extent ; and in particular, so 
hallowed were the bounds, and so powerful the Prior of 
Sheen, that Perkin Warbeck found within its walls a secure 
asylum from the vindictive hand of justice, and by the inter- 
ference of the Prior with the King, his life was for that time 
saved ; though he was afterwards executed for endeavouring 
to effect his escape from the Tower. 

Situated so near to the royal residence, and celebrated for 

c 



x PREFACE. 

its delightful grounds and gardens even down to the time 
of Sir William Temple, its last respectable inhabitant, the 
priory of Sheen flourished under the immediate patronage 
and personal favour of Majesty till the suppression of the 
monastic orders in 1 53 9, by Henry VIII. when its revenues 
were estimated at 7 7 71. 12s. 6d. no inconsiderable amount 
at a period when the value of money was three times 
greater than it is at present. 

The site of this favourite priory was successively granted 
to the most illustrious noblemen of the court ; and we find 
among its possessors the Dukes of Somerset and Suffolk, and 
many other distinguished names ; the catalogue closing with 
Sir William Temple, as just mentioned, who writes in 
raptures to his friends concerning the beauties of his charm- 
ing and sequestered abode at Sheen; abundant in the richest 
fruits and the choicest vines. With Sir William Temple, 
Swift resided two years (as we are informed by Dr. Johnson), 
and there first saw Mrs. Johnson, the lovely but ever to be 
pitied Stella, who was born at this place, and whose father 
was Sir William's Steward, a circumstance which adds not 
a little to the celebrity of Sheen. There is no necessity 
for our tracing lower down the history of this venerable 
fabric ; the particulars may be found in Mr. Lysons* 
Survey ; who concludes his account with informing us that 



PREFACE. xi 

" an ancient gateway, the last remain of the priory, was 
taken down in 1 7 70, when the whole hamlet of West Sheen, 
consisting of eighteen houses, was totally annihilated, and 
the site being formed into a lawn, was added to the King's 
inclosures." 

As no particular details concerning the internal docora- 
tions of either the palace or the monastery have descended 
to posterity, a just conception of them can only be formed 
from the description given us by ancient authors of those of 
similar antiquity, or by examining the few august remains of 
Gothic palaces and fanes that have escaped the desolating 
fury of time, as Windsor Castle, and the Chapel of Henry VII. 
at Westminster, but more particularly that of St. Stephen, 
(the present House of Commons,) as originally erected and 
finished by Edward III. Of the kind and profusion of those 
ornaments in painting, gilding, 8cc. an accurate description, 
with illustrative engravings, as they burst upon the eye of 
the astonished artist v on removing the wainscot that had for 
ages concealed them, will shortly be published, and will 
certainlyjustify the author in decorating with corresponding 
trophies and symbols the temple of God, and the abode of 
Majesty. 

Such are the interesting objects which present themselves 
to the eye of the historian, and the bard, in the immediate 



xii PREFACE. 

vicinity of the delightful eminence whose prominent beau- 
ties I have undertaken to describe, and the survey of them 
is included in the first Canto. In the second Canto that survey 
is extended to scenes and objects more remote ; but so 
boundless is the prospect, and so fertile the field, taking in 
the greatest part of the charming county of Surrey, that I 
was compelled to be very select in the choice of objects, and 
originally intended to confine myself to a cursory description 
of Wimbledon, Earl Spencer's, a nobleman to whose kind- 
ness I am under very considerable obligation, and the 
classic bowers of the Duke of Devonshire, at Chiswick, on 
the one hand, and Hampton Court and Windsor Castle on 
the other. In the course, however, of very desultory com- 
position, for the Poem has only, at intervals, during the last 
eighteen months, engaged my attention, three very awful 
national calamities have taken place in the successive deaths 
of Lord Nelson, Mr. Pitt, and Mr. Fox, all more or less 
connected with the scene which I was constantly contem- 
plating ; the family seat of the first being at Merton, Mr. Pitt 
expiring at Putney, and Mr. Fox, shortly after the lamented 
decease of one of its noble owners, at Chiswick. 

All these melancholy events occurred in the short space 
of eight months, while the rapidity and magnitude of the 
calamity left the nation almost stupified with astonishment 



PREFACE. xiii 

and grief. A sense of public duty, added to the warm im- 
pulse of gratitude, imperiously called forth the exertions of 
the sorrowing Muse, in honour of the two former, while 
my admiration of exalted talents and transcendant worth 
could not fail of exciting similar efforts in respectful memory 
of the two latter. The plan, therefore, of the Poem, was 
extended, and the second Canto considerably enlarged. 
Elegiac lines, appropriate to each of these distinguished 
characters are, in consequence, episodically introduced into 
it, and I have ventured to denominate the memorial strains 
that bewail their untimely fall, the awful obituary ; such 
an one as probably will never again occur within so limited 
a period, and must for ever hold out the most solemn and 
instructive lesson to valour, power, talents, and beauty ! 
That I should become, at once, the eulogist of the two great 
rival statesmen may excite surprize, but surely ought not 
to induce censure. The great qualities which I have justly 
celebrated in Mr. Fox, are not immediately connected with 
political considerations. To pourtray his eminence in that 
line is left to the pen of others. He was devoted to the 
Muse, and drank himself at the fountain of Helicon ; but no 
Muse worthy of him has as yet sounded his eulogy. On my 
Elegy upon Sir William Jones he once bestowed applause. 



xiv PREFACE. 

My grateful sense of it is shewn in these lines. Alas ! why- 
should fleeting man carry his capricious prejudice beyond 
the bourn of mortality, or aim at making distinctions when 
distinction itself is no more ! ! ! 



British Museum, 
1st May, 1807- 



RICHMOND HILL. 



ARGUMENT. 



CANTO I. 

Descriptive of Scenes and Objects surveyed in ihe immediate Vicinity of 
Richmond Bill. Time, Noon. 

1. Exordium ; the tumult of war, and the ravages caused by ambition, 
contrasted with those images of rural tranquillity and abundance, 
suggested by the subject. — 2. Apostrophe to animated Nature, and 
the Genii who may be presumed to guard the haunts of Britain's 
departed Kings. — 3. Dedication of the Poem to Lord Viscount 
Sidmouth, resident in Richmond Park, and an early patron of the 
Author's poetical and other works. — 4. General view of objects ad- 
joining Richmond Hill, including the Royal Gardens of Richmond 
and Kew. — Compared with the most celebrated hills of antiquity. — 
Richmond the Parnassus, and its vale the Tempe, of Britain. — 
5. Poets who have preceded the Author in describing their beauties, 
and those of the surrounding districts — Denham — Pope — Thomson 
— Collins — Gray. — 6. Richmond Terrace — the Bridge — the 
River covered with vessels on a public festivity. — Aquatic music. — 
7- The Cambridge Meadows — second excursion to the Royal Gardens 
— Sion-House — Ham-House, Lord Dysart — Pope's Grotto, and 
grounds; Twickenham— Strawberry-Hill, Mrs. Darner.— 8. Historical 

D 



18 ARGUMENT. 

retrospect on the glorious actions of those ancient Princes who were 
born, or flourished, at Richmond — Edward the Third, Henry the 
Fifth, and the Seventh ; the last of whom erected the ancient Palace, 
of which a correct engraving forms the Frontispiece — Elizabeth and 
the Armada. — 9- That palace generally described — its gaudy decora- 
tions in painting and sculpture, descriptive of the wars and triumphs of 
its early princes, and the athletic sanguinary sports of the ancient 
Britons. — 10. The ancient and renowned monastery of Sheen, 
founded by Henry V. — Gothic architecture — Painted windows, roofs, 
walls, — Sacred symbolic devices. — 11. Grandeur of the Roman Ca- 
tholic worship, especially in the circumstance of music. — 12. The 
neighbouring convent, and beautiful groves of Sion, founded also by 
Henry V. and now the residence of the illustrious family of Percy. — 
13. Henry VIII. and the Reformation — That monarch's sanguinary 
atrocities stigmatized — induced by his boundless profusion, rather 
than any real zeal for religion, he seizes on the monasteries, and 
confiscates their immense treasures — consequent distress of the mo- 
nastic race, and ruin of Sheen and Si on. — 14. Science revived within 
the monastic bounds of Sheen about the close of the 17th century, 
when it became the habitation of the illustrious Sir WilliamTemple, 
with whom Swift resided, and there first saw his celebrated Stella. 
— 15. Sion Hill, Duke of Marlborough — his character delineated. 
— Earls of Leicester, and Cardigan — Dukes of Buccleugh, and 
Queensbury. — 16. The Lass of Richmond Hill; a narrative 
founded on facts well known in the neighbourhood. 



ARGUMENT. 19 



CANTO II. 

Descriptive of Scenes and Objects surveyed at distance from Richmond Hill; and 
containing the awful Obituary of 1806. — Time, Evening. 

1. Distant prospect from Richmond Hill — Sir Joshua Reynolds. — 
2. Wimbledon, Earl Spencer — Picturesque view of London from an 
eminence in the Park — The prospect of the river, and the navy of Eng- 
land, naturally bring to the recollection of every grateful Briton his 
obligations to the Noble Owner during the period of his presiding at 
the Admiralty — the Burleigh of his day. — 3. Merton Abbey, Lord 
Nelson — his astonishing bravery and profound skill in naval tactics — 
Elegiac lines on his Lordship. — -4. Putney, the awful scene of the ever 
to be lamented death of Mr. Pitt — Elegiac lines sacred to the memory 
of that great Statesman ! — His mighty genius, his unshaken fortitude, 
his unrivalled eloquence. — 5. Fulham, the Bishop of London.. — 
Number and variety of exotic plants in the episcopal garden — 
Bishops Compton, Sherlock, Lowth. — 6. Chiswick, Duke of Devon- 
shire — beauty and classic celebrity of that delightful villa — its 
architectural and sculptural decorations — a poetical tribute of ge- 
nuine respect to the memory of her Grace, Georgiana, Duchess 
of Devonshire. — 7» At Chiswick Mr. Fox expired — due honours 
are paid to the memory of the great rival of Mr. Pitt — his won- 
derful talents, his ardent and comprehensive mind, his boundless 

m 

philanthropy — his magnanimous eulogy on his deceased rival. — 
8. Roehampton, Mr. Goldsmid. — 9- Bushey Park ; Duke of 



20 ARGUMENT. 

Clarence — 10. Hampton Court ; the Cartoons — Cardinal Wolsey. — 
11. Windsor Castle; the Order of the Garter. — 12. The Poem con- 
cludes with a view of the new Palace erecting at Kew, and fervent 
wishes for the restoration of the blessings of peace to desolated 
Europe. 



RICHMOND HILL 



1. Round Europe's shores, while hostile tumults rage, 
And half the maddening world in arms engage ; 
From fields illumined by the falchion's glare, 
Echoing the frantic outcries of despair, 
And scenes of blood, that chill the shudd'ring soul, 
By Gaul's dire Chief in torrents bade to roll! 



1. Exordium. The tumult of war, and the ravages caused by ambition, contrasted 
with those images of rural tranquillity and abundance, suggested by the subject. 



22 RICHMOND HILL. 

To thy sequester' d bow'rs, and wooded height, - 
That ever yield my soul renew' d delight, 
Richmond, I fly — with all thy beauties fired, 
By raptured poets sung, by kings admired. 
Ye sacred,* solemn, high o'er-arching glades ! 
Receive, and wrap me in your inmost shades : 
Oh ! while, on high, the burning dog-star glows, 
And fierce, around, the noontide fervor flows, 
In yon deep glooms my fever' d pulse assuage, 
And shield my temples from his tropic rage. 
Ye woods, impervious to the scorching ray, 
Proud, swelling vistas, all your charms display ; 
In all thy pomp, majestic Nature, rise, 
Awe my rapt soul, and charm my wondering eyes 



* Sacred, in allusioa to the ancient monastery of Sheen, founded here by 
Henry the Fifth. 



RICHMOND HILL. 23 

2. Ye feather' d songsters that, unnumber'd, spread 
Your painted pinions, warbling round my head, 
If e'er byHesper's guiding fires I rove, 
Lur'd by your notes, in Ham's delightful grove, 
Oh ! in full chorus join th' exulting lays 
That roll to Richmond's charms, and Henry's praise; 
The mighty chief, who, ruthless Richard slain, 
Sublime in arms from Bosworth's bloody plain, 
To glory rear'd yon high embattled towers," 
And fix'd Elysium in these blissful bowers. 
Ye noble herds, ye fiery steeds that bound, 
Mid the rich pastures stretch' d immense around, 
With lovelier beauty glow, with nobler fire, 
In Sheen resounds the long-neglected lyre ; 

2. Apostrophe to animated Nature, and the Genii who may be presumed 
to guard the haunts of Britain's departed Kings. 
* See the Frontispiece. 



24 RICHMOND HILL. 

Presiding Genii of this beauteous scene, 
Radiant in vesture of unfading green! 
Spirits! that haunt the woods, or range the plains, 
Hymning, at night's high noon, celestial strains ; 
Who watch the chrystal springs, or sportive lave 
Your glowing essence in yon glassy wave ; 
And ye, of nobler birth ! whose guardian wings 
Around the ancient seat of Britain's kings, 
Expanded, shade the consecrated ground, 
By heroes trod, in every age renown' d ! 
Your varied pow'rs, your blended flame impart, 
The warm electric flame that strikes the heart. 
Thy glories, sovereign River, I rehearse, 
Thy beauties, Richmond, in immortal verse ; 
Soft as the gliding wave my song shall flow, 
Warm as my theme enraptured fancy glow. 



RICHMOND HILL. 25 

3. Oh! thou, whose smiles, to toiling science dear ! 
Amid the storms of many an arduous year, 
Have cheer' d my darkling path, and still befriend, 
Where'er the Muse's daring wings extend; 
Whether the fervid strain* Tyrtaean flow, 
And breathe revenge 'gainst Britain's direst foe, 
Or, on the foaming Ganges' distant shore, 
The plaintive dirge + immortal Jones deplore, 
Or, while the vast pyraeia round her blaze, 
To radiant Mithra j roll the notes of praise, 
Unsullied Statesman ! by thy Prince approv'd, 
Patriot ! by every loyal Briton loved, 

3. Dedication of the Poem to Lord Viscount Sidmouth, resident in Richmond 
Park, and an early patron of the Author's poetical and other works. 

* Alluding to the Crisis, a Poem written by the Author on occasion of 
the threatened invasion of these kingdoms by the French in A. D. 1798, which 
procured him the patronage of Mr. Pitt. 

f The Elegy on Sir W. Jones. 

% The Ode to Mithra. 

E 



26 RICHMOND HILL. 

Who, in the darkest hour to Britain known, 
Stood firm, and faithful, by the trembling throne ! 
While thy own Richmond's regal shades inspire, 
To thee that Muse, delighted, wakes the lyre. 

Too long hath War's wild rage the globe defaced, 
And laid the loveliest realms of Europe waste ; 
Too long, the cries of bleeding Nature spurn' d, 
Hath Death's funereal torch pale-glimmering burn'd. 
To Richmond high the sounding paeans swell, 
Where Addington and rural quiet dwell. 
Hark, through yon beauteous vale, and wooded bounds, 
Sublime the living harmony resounds ; 
'Tis Nature's call, my raptured soul obeys, 
And kindles with yon planet's burning rays. 



RICHMOND HILL. 27 

4. Loveliest of hills that rise in glory round, 
With swelling domes and glittering villas crown' d ; 
For loftier though majestic Windsor tower, 
The richer landscape's thine — the nobler bower. 
Imperial Seat of ancient grandeur, hail ! 
Rich diamond ! sparkling in a golden vale ; 
Or vivid emerald ! whose serener rays 
Beam mildly forth, with mitigated blaze, 
And, 'mid the splendours of an ardent sky, 
With floods of verdant light refresh the eye : 
Richmond! still welcome to my longing sight, 
Of a long race of kings the proud delight ! 
Of old the sainted sage thy groves admired, 
When with devotion's hallow'd transports fired, 

4. General view of objects from Richmond Hill, including the Royal 
Gardens of Richmond and Kew : compared with the most celebrated hills of 
antiquity. — Richmond the Parnassus, and its vale the Tempe, of Britain. 



28 RICHMOND HILL. 

From Sheen's monastic gloom thy brow he sought, 
And on its summit paused in raptured thought, 
Stretch'd to the horizon's bound his ardent gaze, 
And hymn'd aloud the great Creator's praise. 

And still, where'er I turn my wond'ring eyes, 
The dazzling visions, like enchantment, rise- — 
Fired with yon glowing orb's solstitial beam, 
The kindling hills reflect the vivid gleam, 
Round their broad base, and down their verdant sides, 
Full many a sparkling stream meand'ring glides, 
And urging to the Thames its shining way, 
Flames on the view beneath the fervid ray. 
Rich pastures here, and swelling lawns invite, 
And all Arcadia charms the raptur'd sight; 
There bounteous Ceres waves her golden stores, 
There all her blooming wealth Pomona pours. 



RICHMOND HILL. 29 

The searching beams each darksome glen illume, 
And penetrate the grotto's deepest gloom; 
From lofty Windsor to Augusta's fanes, 
One burst of song, one blaze of glory reigns; 
While, wafting from La Plate's far distant shores, 
Brazilian gems, and bright Peruvian ores, 
Through green savannas, and embow'ring woods, 
Majestic rolls the sire of British floods ! 
In whose bright mirror, cloudless and serene, 
The beauties of the blue expanse are seen. 

What radiant tints adorn th' enamel' d ground; 
What rich Sabaean odours float around ! 
For, on this beauteous brow, where kindly dews, 
And vernal gales their genial warmth diffuse, 
And in the spacious vale, that spreads below, 
In many a fragrant garden taught to blow, 



30 RICHMOND HILL. 

Each costlier shrub the bounteous spring bestows, 
And every gorgeous flow'r that summer knows, 
Cull'd from each distant clime, and ransack'd shore, 
Their mingled scents in rich profusion pour ! 
But chief in those delightful lawns display'd, 
Yon proud Arbustum of exotic shade ! • 
Where Britain's Queen in rural grandeur reigns, 
The Guardian Genius of the pictured plains — 
Bids to our view Hesperian germs unfold, 
And clothes those walls with vegetable gold — 
Where breathe the rose-buds of eternal spring, 
And Zephyr ever spreads his halcyon wing ; 
While Taste and Ayton all their skill combine, 
And with the tropic fruits the polar join — 
Concenter' d all the charms of nature bloom, 
And every gale comes loaded with perfume. 



RICHMOND HILL. 31 

Hail to thee, lovely Richmond ! hail, once more, 
Thy beauteous blossom' d vale, and winding shore, 
Raptured I plunge, amid thy inmost bow'rs, 
And range, enamour'd, all thy beds of flow'rs; 
Kiss the dear earth, in youth with transport trod, 
And with my bosom press the fragrant sod. 

Ye radiant children of the vernal year, 
Flora's gay tribes, that gild our darkling sphere, 
Models of beauty, in the rainbow dyed, 
Whose native charms art's proudest boast deride, 
That, flush' d with crimson now superbly blow, 
Now robed in bright imperial purple glow ; 
Oh ! in full pomp your mingled glories spread, 
Oh ! in full tides your confluent odours shed ; 
Around me let nectareous rivers glide, 
And all the seasons burst in all their pride. 



32, RICHMOND HILL. 

Not that famed mount, within whose hallow' d bounds, 
The lyre of Greece pour'd forth celestial sounds, 
Sublime Parnassus ! nor the unmeasured height 
Of vast Olympus, thund' ring Jove's delight! 
Nor hoary Ida, from whose pine-clad brow 
A thousand gushing springs salubrious flow, 
Thou fair Parnassus of the British isles ! 
Where Freedom still, 'mid crumbling empires, smiles; 
Not these, though high in classic song they soar, 
And glory wafts their fame round every shore, 
Not these, sweet Hill ! thy proud renown excel, 
Where noblest bards have smote the deep-toned shell, 
Sovereigns, like Jove, the world's bright scepter sway'd, 
And many a goddess haunts the Elysian shade. 
Thy beauteous vale their boasted Tempe shames, 
A nobler Peneus, glides thy winding Thames ; 



RICHMOND HILL. 33 

Through lovelier pastures rolls his fostering wave, 
And nourishes a race more nobly brave. 

5. Rise, awful Shadows! rise, immortal throng, 
Burst Death's dark confines, and attest my song; 
Oh! crown'd with bays that shall for ever bloom, 
Amid your favour' d haunts the lyre resume; 
The stream, along whose beauteous banks ye roved, 
The shrubs you planted, and the bow'rs you loved, 
The hallow' d grottos, where the Muse inspired, 
The solemn vistas, where the soul was fired, 
The welcome, well-known sounds rejoiced shall hail, 
And Echo waft them down the gladden'd vale. 



5. Poets who have preceded the Author in describing their beauties, and 
those of the adjoining districts — Denham — Pope — Thompson — Collins — 
Gray. 

F 



34 RICHMOND HILL. 

Rise thou ! who, eldest of the tuneful quire, 
In yon rich valley waked the votive lyre ! 
For still thy lovely Hill* its charms retains, 
But brightest shines in thy delightful strains. 
From its proud summit, on her soaring wings, 
Through heavn's expanse thy Muse, unbounded, springs ; 
On all beneath her beams of glory throws, 
And in thy song the whole horizon glows. 

Rise, Pope! sublime in Homer's classic rage ! 
For all his spirit warms thy nervous page ; 
Nor with less fire, for trampled virtue bold, 
Thy fervid strain of manly satire roll'd. — 
But who shall Windsor's bow'ry pride display, 
In numbers sweet as thy mellifluous lay, 

* See Denham's "Cooper's Hill." 



RICHMOND HILL. 35 

Like plaintive Eloise the passions move, 
Now warm to rapture, and now melt to love ! 
Awed by thy daring flight, th' admiring Muse, 
Trembling, through Twitnam's groves, her course 

pursues : 
For who, with rival wing, shall hope to soar 
Where thy bold eagle-genius tower' d before? 

Will that sweet Bard, who sang the varying year, 
As round the zodiac rolls yon burning sphere, 
Whose spirit, like the electric fluid, flies, 
At Fancy's magic call, through earth and skies ; 
In Cancer now the fiery deluge dares, 
Or sweetly carols in the frozen Bears — 
Will Thomson, who, in these delightful shades, 
So oft invoked the nine harmonious maids, 



36 RICHMOND HILL. 

Quit his loved Newton,* and the stars, to rove, 

Once more, through fragrant Sheen's embowering grove ; 

His earthly Eden ! or from yon proud brow, 

Charm'd with the boundless landscape, stretch'd below, 

Spontaneous pour those rapture-breathing strains, 

That once resounded on yon blissful plains ; 

In song bid all the fair creation rise, 

With Titian's colouring paint the crimson'd skies, 

The fields in all their purple pomp array' d, 

The far-extended forest's deepening shade, 

The pastures, where a thousand cattle feed, 

And, panting for the chase, the bounding steed ; 

Embattled tow'rs, the lofty woods that crown, 

And on the vales in hoary grandeur frown, 

* See his very animated poem on this great man, less noticed than it merits. 



RICHMOND HILL. 37 

Domes proudly swelling, gilded, glittering spires, 
Their summits sparkling with the solar fires ; 
The river rolling in its silver pride, 
And Paradise pour'd forth on either side! 

Thou, too, who, o'er thy Druid's sylvan grave, * 
Pour d thy deep sorrows to the listening wave ; 
Immortal Lyrist! in whose varied page, 
Personified, the frantic Passions rage ; 
Like him, who, glowing with a Spartan's soul, 
To freedom bad the manly measures roll, 
And sang the radiant sword, in myrtles drest. 
That fell, like thunder, on the tyrant's crest ; 
Collins, awake, arise! — and roll along 
The tide of music, and the soul of song! 



* In yonder grave a Druid lies, &c. 

Collins 's Elegy on Thomson. 



38 RICHMOND HILL. 

Of kindred, but of still sublimer note, 
What distant symphonies in aether float? 
Descended from his bright crystalline sphere, 
Does Pindar's mighty shade on earth appear? 
Or is it Gray, with all the Theban's fire, 
Whose daring genius wakes the slumb'ring lyre? 
Far, far beyond each western Muse ascends, 
And with the bards the prophet's fury blends. 
Nor only Pindar's fire thy bosom warms, 
In thee the tenderness of Petrarch charms ; 
While sweet Tibullus, in thy pensive strains, 
In the rich tones of mellow'd grief complains. 
Whether, enamour' d of the classic bow'rs, 
Where laurell'd Eton lifts her Gothic tow'rs, 
Thy pensive Muse, by Thames' s winding shore, 
The lofty lyric strain, didactic, pour ; 



RICHMOND HILL. 39 

And to the noble youth, who sportive rove 

Her flow'ry lawns, and academic grove, 

In awful strain the myriad ills display, 

The brooding storms of life's maturer day; 

Paint dire Adversity's* terrific train, 

Her wheel, her thund'ring scourge, and clanking chain ; 

Or, pausing on the grave's tremendous verge, 

Bid flow the sweetly-plaintive, solemn dirge ;.+ 

Grandeur and beauty deck thy nervous lines, 

And all the master in the portrait shines ! 

Roused by thy magic harp's inspiring sound, 

The genius kindles, and the pulses bound ; 

Fancy beams forth with renovated fires, 

And Virtue with diviner rage aspires. 

* Hymn to Adversity. 

t Elegy in a Country Church Yard. 



40 RICHMOND HILL. 

Sweetest of Britain's bards ! whose fame shall spread 
Long as those hills exalt the tow' ring head; 
Long as the noble stream you sang shall flow, 
And on its banks the golden harvests glow ; 
While, in your favourite glades, I wake the lays, 
Accept this homage to your brighter bays ! 

6. On this proud brow — this Terrace of delight, 
Where truth surpasses fiction's boldest flight — - 
This chosen spot, where all the bright domain 
Of winding waters, and expanded plain, 
Hills rich in verdure, forests black with shade, 
The crowded city, and sequester' d glade ; 



6. Richmond Terrace — the Bridge — the River, covered with vessels on a 
public festivity — Aquatic music. 



RICHMOND HILL. 41 

Fanes, where devotion swells the notes of praise, 
And castles, where imperial standards blaze, 
Burst in a flood of glory on the view, 
Still bright, still varied, and for ever new — 
Let Contemplation take her raptured stand, 
And from this Pisgah view the promisd land; 
With closer eye survey this glittering scene, 
The matchless beauties of unrivall'd Sheen. 
In the deep bosom of yon winding vale, 
Which travell'd bards our fair Frescati hail! 
Mark, where yon beauteous Bridge, with modest pride, 
Throws its broad shadow o'er the subject tide- — 
There, Attic elegance and strength unite, 
And fair proportion's charms the eye delight ; 
There, graceful, while the spacious arches bend, 
No useless, glaring ornaments offend — 

G 



42 RICHMOND HILL. 

Embower'd in verdure,* heap'd unbounded round, 

Of every varied hue that shades the ground, 

Its polish'd surface of unsullied white, 

With heighten'd lustre beams upon the sight; 

Still lovelier in the shining flood survey'd, 

Mid the deep masses of surrounding shade. 

Glittering with brilliant tints, and burnish' d gold, 

Above ) the cars of luxury are roll'd, 

Or Commerce, that upholds the wealthy Thane, 

Guides to Augusta's tow'rs her cumbrous wain ; 

Below, refulgent in the noon-tide ray, 

While in the breeze the silken streamers play, 

A thousand barks, array' d in gorgeous pride, 

Bound o'er the surface of the yielding tide. 



* The reader will please to bear in mind that the survey is from the Terrace, 
where the Bridge appears as if embosomed in woods. 



RICHMOND HILL. 43 

Hark ! widely wafted round each echoing shore, 
Their warlike notes the sounding clarions pour — 
For Love's soft airs must now to martial yield, 
And Beauty's raptures to the banner' d field — 
Recall the glories of our valiant sires, 
And kindle in their sons congenial fires ; 
But chief amid the hallow' d haunts they loved, 
Be every bounding heart to vengeance moved ; 
The valiant youths who range this blest retreat, 
Feel, at the sound, their throbbing pulses beat ; 
A thousand. Henrys thrill with high alarms, 
A thousand fearless Richmonds rush to arms ; 
Loud sound the trumpets on these regal plains, 
And roll the tumid' ring drum's inspiring strains. 



44 RICHMOND HILL. 

7. In those fair Meadows, from the world retired. 
With ardent thirst of hallow' d science fired! 
Where, blooming round, the virtuous Cambridge views 
The earliest buds of spring their sweets diffuse, 
How bright the robe luxuriant nature wears, 
How rich the stores her genial bosom bears ! 
Mid those delightful lawns, the loveliest found 
In cultivated Britain's verdant bound, 
Where sun, and shade, and stream, their charms unite, 
And soft Favonian gales to love invite ; 
For ever could my raptured footsteps rove, 
For ever wander through the vocal grove. 

Tow' ring amid the plain, with loftier pride, 
As suits the Lord of yon majestic tide ! 

7. The Cambridge Meadows — Second excursion to the Royal Gardens — Sion 
House — Ham-House, Lord Dysart — Pope's Grotto and Grounds at Twickenham 
— Strawberry-Hill, Mrs. Darner. 



RICHMOND HILL. 45 

Thy bow'rs once more, imperial Kew, I hail, 

Thames' noblest boast, the glory of the vale ! 

Beneath the shade yon proud Pagoda* throws, 

Where every scented shrub of China grows ; 

Amid those winding glooms, where, heav'n-inspired, 

The soaring fancy of the bard is fired ; 

Or where its front the Dome of Science + rears, 

And George, enrapturd, views the rolling spheres; 

Oft be it mine to range, at opening dawn, 

The living verdure of the spacious lawn ; 

Explore each secret grot, each lowly dell, 

And trace the gradual slope, the beauteous swell, 

Of gardens fragrant as Arabian vales, 

Where groves of spikenard scent the breathing gales; 

* See Sir William Chambers' Description of Kew Gardens, and the various 
temples and other buildings, of his design, that adorn them ; for an account of 
the unrivalled and invaluable plants which they contain see the Hortus Kewensis 
of Mr. Ay ton. t The Royal Observatory. 



46 RICHMOND HILL. 

While high above the branching myrtles blow, 
And oranges in golden radiance glow. 
For there, arrang'd in dazzling rows, appear 
All the rich stores of Asia's fragrant year; 
Whate'er of stately form Columbia yields, 
Or lovelier blooms in Afric's torrid fields, 
From the tall cedar on the mountain s brow, 
And pines high-tow'ring 'mid the polar snow, 
To the warm bed where sweet Mimosas flow'r, 
And Cerea's beams illume the midnight bow'r ; 
Bright, transient beams, whose lustre shall expire, 
Long e'er Aurora lights her purple fire! 

Matured by warmth, congenial with the ray, 
That pours on Cairo's tow'rs the tropic day, 
Here the bright Lotos glows — and joys to lave 
Its radiant petals in the fervid wave ; 



RICHMOND HILL. 47 

There, from the regions of eternal storm, 
The Queen superbly rears its stately form ; 
Proud in its Patron's royal bow'r to bloom, 
Spread its broad leaves, and waft its rich perfume. 
Where'er with hurried step I raptured tread, 
The germs of Paradise around me spread ; 
Entranced with wonder and delight I gaze, 
And roam, bewilder'd, through the shining maze. 

Oh! for a Raphael's pencil to pourtray 
All that from Sheen's proud height my eyes survey — 
Then, Sion! should the kindling Muse resound 
Thy hallow' d haunts, in ancient song renown'd ; 
The boundless pomp of shade that clothes thy plains, 
Once echoing with devotion s raptured strains ; 
The princely grandeur of thy swelling dome, 
The paintings, glowing in each lofty room ! 



48 RICHMOND HILL. 

Rich marbles — breathing sculptures — all declare, 
With matchless taste, an Adam has been there; 
While varied woods, and lawns, and streams combine, 
With one loud voice, to prove a Brown's design. 

Hail, lovely Sion! thy majestic shades! 
Thy high-arch' d bow'rs, and consecrated glades! 
Where erst, secluded in her cloister'd cell, 
The fair enthusiast swept the vocal shell ; 
Or lull'd in transport, holy vespers closed, 
On beds of blooming amaranth reposed — - 
And while the brilliant landscape richly glow'd, 
And soft and sweet the murmuring river flow'd, 
Already felt a seraph's chaste delight, 
While heav'n, in Sion, met her raptur'd sight. 

And now to Ham's delightful gloom convey cl, 
Where ne'er the beams of burning noon pervade, 



RICHMOND HILL. 49 

Dysart, thy bow'rs my devious feet explore, 
Whose lofty umbrage darkens all the shore ; 
Delightful haunt! where Dryden's Muse of fire, 5 " 
With Grecian vigour smote the British lyre, 
While Fancy fabled round, in airy dream, 
The groves of Athens, and Castalia's stream. 
Descended of a long illustrious line, 
That in the page of two vast empires shine, 
Tallmache, still guard with care that reverend pile, 
Sacred to Dryden, and renown' d Argyle! 
Long soar, sublime, its antiquated hall, 
The pictured ceiling, and the trophied wall, 
Where many a warrior frowns in radiant arms, 
And many a beauty beams unrivall'd charms. 

* The Earl of Dysart, grandfather of the present Earl, is said to have been fre- 
quently visited by Dryden at Ham-House. This house was built in 1610, and 
retaining its ancient ornaments and decorations, remains, says Mr. Lysons, a 
very curious specimen of a mansion of that age. 

H 



50 RICHMOND HILL. 

Twitnam ! so dearly loved, so often sung ! 
Theme of each raptured heart, and glowing tongue, 
Thou lovelier Auburn of this classic plain, 
Where Thames majestic rolls to meet the main ; 
For what loved bard do now the immortal Nine 
In your famed bow'rs unfading garlands twine — 
Or is, with Pope, extinct the hallow'd flame, 
The thirst for glory, and the throb for fame ! 

Borne on the bosom of the swelling tide, 
As by yon plunder 1 d, faded Grot* I glide, 
No more, sweet bard, the pointed crystals gleam, 
Nor glittering spars reflect thy much-loved stream. 



* Dodsley, in a poem called the Cave of Pope, had long ago prophesied, that 
this grotto should, in future ages, have numerous depredators, 

Boasting a relic from the cave of Pope. 

The prediction has indeed been fulfilled, and in a manner far more extensive 
than ever the prophetic bard conceived. 



RICHMOND HILL. 51 

Or, pensive, should I seek the solemn glade, 
Sacred to Editha's delighted Shade, 
Where urns and cypress, scatter' d round, diffuse 
The sombre gloom that charms the sorrowing Muse ; 
No heav'nly harpings vibrate on our ears, 
No sounds, like thine, that waft us to the spheres- 
No more with rapture sought the hallow' d sod, 
No more thy bow'rs with sacred rev'rence trod ; 
The lofty elms thou badst in air ascend, 
Neglected now, their awful shade extend. 
Yet still, though spurn' d thy grot and hallow' d spring, 
And Ruin hover round with dragon wing, 
Through rolling years, unconscious of decay, 
Immortal Pope, shall bloom thy classic bay; 
And Virtue's self shall eternize his page, 
Who " rock'd the cradle of declining age." 



52 RICHMOND HILL. 

Oft where, till late, thy favourite willow stood, 
And with its aged arms embraced the flood ; 
By Cynthia's beam the tuneful Swans bemoan 
The boast of Twitnam's beauteous vale o'erthrown ; 
Extinguished in her sons the sacred fire, 
The banish'd Muses, and deserted lyre. 

Ye sovereign Guardians" of yon ample tide, 
Who o'er Augusta's glittering towers preside, 
Whose barges, bright with gold and azure, gleam, 
In annual pomp upon th' illumin'd stream- 
In your proud progress on the billowy field. 
Oh ! still from ruffian rage the Cygnet shield — 



What though his blood your sires profusely pour'd, 
The proudest dainty of the groaning board ; 

* This is respectfully addressed to the Lord Mayor and Aldermen, in their 
annual excursion up the river Thames, for the purpose of preserving this species 
of birds; once considered so great a delicacy at public banquets. 



RICHMOND HILL. 53 

Less sanguine you the impious feast forbear, 
And the famed bird with silver pinions spare ; 
The sacred bird, of all the feather' d throng, 
Most honour' d and renown' d in ancient song, 
Who haunts the sweetest shades, and dying sings 
Her mournful dirges to the crystal springs — 
Respect, through every age, her blazon'd fame, 
And venerate the mighty Mantuan's name. 

Hail to the Gothic roofs, the classic bow'rs, 
Where, laurell'd Darner, glide thy tranquil hours ; 
Where the rude block, from Parian quarries brought, 
Bursts into life, and breathes the glow of thought, 
While all the cherish' d Arts and Muses mourn 
Round polish' d Walpole's venerated urn — - 
In one loved spot their blended charms combine, 
And in their full meridian glory shine — 



54 RICHMOND HILL. 

Of rarities, from many a clime convey' d, 
O'er many an ocean, to this hallow'd shade; 
How bright the rich assemblage charms my eyes, 
What prodigies of daring art surprise, 
In pictures, vases, gems, of various hue, 
And bring all Greece and Latium to my view ! 
While Albion's chiefs, of more sublime renown, 
And ermined senators, in marble frown ; 
Bright polish'd helms heroic times recall, 
And gleaming corselets hang the storied wall. 

Nor Nature less her loveliest charms displays, 
Amid the pomp of Art's unbounded blaze ; 
At every step we take fresh raptures move, 
Charm in the house, and ravish in the grove: 
Within, the richest silks of China glow, 
Without, the flow'rs of both the tropics blow. 



RICHMOND HILL. 55 

What matchless colours, in the solar beam, 
Warm, vivid, varied, through the casements stream ; 
Here the deep ruby seems to blush in blood, 
There the bright topaz pours a golden flood ; 
With heav'n's blue vault the beaming sapphire vies, 
And emeralds glow with ocean's azure dies. 
While thro' those casements, to the astonish'd sight, 
O'er hills and valleys ranging with delight, 
A brighter, richer landscape shines display' d, 
Than ever Poussin sketch'd, or Claude pourtray'd. 

8. As roams the eye around yon vast expanse, 
In Fancy's view what radiant visions dance? 



8. Historical retrospect on the glorious actions of those ancient Princes who 
were born, or flourished, at Richmond — Edward the Third, Henry the Fifth, 
and the Seventh ; the last of whom erected the ancient Palace of which a correct 
engraving forms the Frontispiece — Elizabeth, and the Armada. 



56 RICHMOND HILL. 

While Glory waves on high her glittering roll, 

And with past triumphs fires the kindling soul ; 

Spreads all her banners, all her pomp displays, 

And bids the trophied spoils of battle blaze. 

For scarce a prince in British song renown'd, 

But rang'd, enchanted, o'er this fairy ground; 

From those stern chiefs who first in vengeance hurl'd 

Albion's loud thunder o'er the vanquish'd world; 

Her Henrys, Edwards, of immortal fame, 

Who, cloth'd in radiant steel, with souls of flame, 

Fierce as the lions blazon' d on their shields, 

Raged through Poictiers and Cressy's bloody fields — 

Or those who, fired with sacred fury, bore 

Her blazing cross to Asia's distant shore, 

O'er half her empires flames and ravage spread, 

And bade her loftiest cities bow the head, 



RICHMOND HILL. 57 

Till high on Salem's tow'rs their standards gleam, 

While foaming Jordan rolls a crimson stream ; 

To that famed Princess, who, with fix'd disdain, 

Defied the daring threat of hostile Spain, 

When, in wide ruin, vaunting to o'erwhelm, 

Her shatter' d navy, and her ravaged realm, 

From all her ports tow'rds Britain's destined coast, 

Dark'ning the flood, rush'd forth the myriad host. 

What though, with gorgeous streamers blazing wide, 

Th' insulted deep her vast Armada ride, 

Loading with cumbrous pomp the burthen' d wave, 

While wide beneath them yawns the ravening grave ; 

No terrors shake her soul, no threats appall, 

At length from heaven the avenging tempests fall : 

Dark whirlwinds scud across the watery plain, 

In mountain billows heaves the labouring main ; 



58 RICHMOND HILL. 

Mid the dire gale the British thunders roar, 
And on the foe their treasured vengeance pour ; 
The toil of centuries to atoms sweep, 
And with one boundless wreck o'erspread the deep. 

9. A palace, worthy of the valiant race, 
Tower' d in yon valley on its ample base — 
Close by the flood that India's treasures pours, 
In rich profusion round his fertile shores, 
Its lofty battlements, from distant plains, 
Survey'd with rapture by the toiling swains, 
Majestic soar'd, in Gothic pomp sublime ! 
And long defied the rage of ravening time. 



9. The Palace generally described — its gaudy decorations in painting and 
sculpture— descriptive of the wars and triumphs of its early princes, and the 
athletic sanguinary sports of the ancient Britons. 



RICHMOND HILL. 59 

The pictur'd roofs, with burnish'd gold inlaid, 

The trophied spoils of vanquish'd Gaul display'd — 

The lilies on her glittering standard borne, 

The lofty plumes from regal temples torn ; 

Whatever could the warrior's soul inspire, 

To vengeance rouse him, and to glory fire ; 

Embattled armies, feats of high renown, 

The burning fortress, and invested town, 

On its bright walls, in glowing colours wrought, 

Flamcl on the view, and warm'd the kindling thought. 

Nor did the beardless candidate for fame 
Incentives want to rouse his latent flame ; 
For there full many a prince, to Britain dear, 
Full many an Edward grasp'd th' avenging spear ! 
There Chivalry unsheath'd her shining blade, 
And tournaments their warlike pomp display'd ; 



60 RICHMOND HILL. 

The dauntless champion, marshall'd for the fight, 
The beauteous damsel charm' d th' admiring sight ; 
The martial sports, that pleased a barbarous age, 
Fired the bold youth, and fann'd his native rage. 
Here some fierce boar, the tyrant of the wood, 
Lies pierced with darts, and welt' ring in his blood; 
There, breathing fire, the frantic bull behold, 
His glaring eyes in wild contortion roll'd ; 
Cover' d with wounds, and struggling at the stake, 
His hideous yells a savage joy awake ; 
While sanguine triumphs o'er the shaggy bear, 
For direr combats, bloodier fields prepare. 
These images in gaudy colouring bright, 
Survey' d with mingled wonder and delight; 
With all the artist's daring skill design' d, 
To dauntless valour train' d his ductile mind. 



RICHMOND HILL. 61 

Mark ! as he gazes, how the Stripling fires ! 
To manhood's hardiest feats his soul aspires ; 
His air, his gait, his mighty line disclose, 
The blood that in the veins of heroes flows ; 
Sublime his forehead — floating, unconfined, 
His ebon tresses wanton in the wind ; 
The purple bloom of health adorns his cheek, 
His glist'ning eyes his soul's emotion speak: 
Now at the bow of steel his strength he tries, 
Now from his arm the brandish' d javelin flies. 
In every nobler toil he takes the lead, 
First in the lists for valour, skill, and speed ! 
A ruddy falconer now, undaunted, braves 
The craggy steep, or stems th' opposing waves ; 
Now tow'rds the goal his fiery courser strains, 
Fleeter than those that scour' d Olympian plains. 



62 RICHMOND HILL. 

Ambition's dream absorbs his infant soul, 
Before him Glory's glittering phantoms roll; 
The dangers vanish ere the strife's begun, 

And, " e'er he starts," the dazzling prize is won. 

f 

Nor arms alone, and Glory's martial blaze, 

Shed o'er those trophied walls their gorgeous rays 
With Wisdom's treasures, an invalued hoard ; 
The gilded galleries were proudly stored ; 
In gaudy vestments shone each classic sage, 
But brighter still the rich emblazon' d page ; 
Hence on the throne the beams of science flow'd, 
And brighter laurels than the sword bestow' d — 
But ah ! by Time's resistless scythe mow'd down, 
All the proud pageants of sublime renown, 
The glitt'ring monuments of classic lore, 
The sculptur'd trophies charm our eyes no more! 



RICHMOND HILL. 63 

Yet still those eyes some stately fragments meet, 
That mark triumphant Henry's loved retreat, 
When to these glades from Bosworth, drench'd with gore, 
The conquering chief his thund'ring war-steed bore — 
Where deeply pierced by Sorrow's rankling dart, 
Undaunted Edward ! burst thy mighty heart : 
A heart that agonized, in vain, to save 
A darling son from the devouring grave — - 
That sable Prince, his Sire's, his Country's pride! 
Whose valour spread her deathless fame so wide — 
Where Richard saw, in beauty's loveliest bloom, 
His angel bride sink, headlong, to the tomb; 
Then rushM with horror from the deathful bow'r, 
And bade the axe its lofty shades devour — 
Where her last breath, in pangs, Eliza pour'd, 
For murder'd Essex — ah! too late deplored. 



64 RICHMOND HILL. 

10. But not in splendid palaces alone, 
The pomp of Britain's scepter' d lords was shown — 
Sacred to heav'n, that, o'er the anointed head 
Its adamantine shield in battle spread ; 
In Sheen a stately Fabric met the sight, 
Of old, the hoary anchorite's delight! 
And near, amid the groves for ever green, 
Richly endow'd, a costly Fane was seen. 
In antique grandeur rose the spacious pile, 
And richest sculptures deck'd each cloister'd ile ; 
On the proud roofs, in air sublimely raised, 
The eye with pain, yet still with rapture, gazed. 
High tower d the Gothic arch; and, through the dome, 
Dark clustering columns shed a twilight gloom : — 



10. The ancient and renowned monastery of Sheen, founded by Henry V.— 
Gothic architecture— Painted windows, roofs, walls— Sacred symbols. 



RICHMOND HILL. 65 

Save when yon fervid orb's pervading rays 
Lighted the pictured window's crimson blaze — 
While from the lofty walls, suspended, wave 
The spoils of war, and banners of the brave ! 
Statues of saints, for suffering worth renown d, 
In massy silver seem'd to breathe around ; 
Unbounded wealth the gorgeous shrine oerflowcl, 
That with the richest gems of Asia glow 'd ; 
For many a pilgrim, from its distant shore, 
To that famed shrine his hoarded treasure bore. 

Refulgent shone the storied roofs — array' d 
In all the blended pomp of light and shade ; 
While gold and azure charm' d the wond'ring eyes, 
And cherubs floated in cerulean skies ! 
A master's hand had sketch'd the bold design, 
The fire of genius mark'd each glowing line ; 

K 



66 RICHMOND HILL. 

Devotion's brightest symbols flam'd above, 

The dazzling wonders of Redeeming Love ; 

The Star whose light, by eastern seers adored, 

Its hallow'd blaze on humble Bethlem f pour d ; 

The Dove, resplendent with the silver wings, 

That hovering, paused, o'er Jordan's sacred springs; 

And settling on the Saviour's lowly head, 

Bright as a thousand suns, its glories shed ! 

All that in faith transports, in virtue charms, 

All that in guilt the shudd'ring soul alarms ; 



* It has been already observed that this monastery, according to Dugdate, 
was denominated by the founder, Henry V. " The House of Jesus of Bethlem at 
Sheen." Although therefore there are no traditional accounts of the emblemati- 
cal devices with which its celebrated chapel was decorated, symbolical paintings, 
like those alluded to in the text, may justly be presumed to have formed its 
principal embellishments, at a period when all the powers of art and genius 
were exerted in adding to the splendour of sacred edifices, of what is called the 
second Gothic order. 



RICHMOND HILL. 67 

Heav'n's radiant visions, bursting on the sight, 
The dark, drear horrors of Cimmerian night ; 
Extatic raptures — agonizing woe — 
By Fancy's daring pencil taught to flow, 
On the proud roofs, in brilliant tints pourtray'd, 
Or on the breathing walls, the eye survey' d ; 
While from the rich illumin'd windows beam'd, 
As the meridian blaze unbounded stream'd, 
With all the rainbow's varied beauty bright, 
Flow'd the. rich torrent of reflected light — 
Full on the altar flam' d the fervid ray, 
And oped a gleam of heaven's eternal day. 
With transport warm'd, with sacred awe oppress'd, 
Alternate passions heaved the throbbing breast. 



68 RICHMOND HILL. 

11. In times when barbarous superstition reign'd, 
And Rome's resplendent rites the soul enchain' d, 
At Sheen, in all its bright insignia drest, 
Where prostrate kings the hallow'd pavement press'd; 
And mitred priests, while rapt devotion gazed, 
On high the consecrated chalice raised; 
How radiant blazed the altar's cherish' d fire, 
How grand the music of the swelling quire ! 
Now o'er some valiant chief, in battle slain, 
Symphonious flbw'd the solemn dirge-like strain, 
While o'er his dust, with funeral pomp inurn'd, 
The glimmering lamp of midnight vigil burn'd : 
Now, in resounding chorus, roll'd along 
The full o'erflowing tide of sacred song ! 

11. Grandeur of the Roman Catholic worship, especially in the circumstance of 
Music — However degrading the superstition, the ardour of regal devotion at the 
altar of Sheen was not less fervent than their munificence was splendid. 



RICHMOND HILL. 69 

A hundred burning censers breathe perfume, 
A hundred tapers light the blazing dome ! 
On wings of fire the fervid soul ascends, 
And tow'rds its parent source enraptured bends. 
The beaten cymbals, and melodious shell, 
Sound to the sacred trumpet's solemn swell; 
Their powerful aid unnumber'd voices join, 
And loud hosannas rend the vaulted shrine f 

Yes — wearied with a crown's distracting cares, 
The splendid burthen to which kings are heirs ; 
Sick of base flattery — sick of courtly broils — - 
And for a moment wean'd from glory's toils — 
Beneath those roofs, that flourish'd in their smile, 
Though Time hath dash'd to earth the moulder'd pile, 
Their ardent vows those pious princes pour'd, 
And prostrate hail'd a more puissant Lord ; 



70 RICHMOND HILL. 

There laid their Jewell' d diadems aside, 
The pomp, the splendour of imperial pride, 
And sought, secluded, that divine repose, 
Which sovereign piety alone bestows — 
Resign d each passion to its soft controul, 
While holy raptures tranquillized the soul ! 
Nor at those shrines, in eastern pomp array' d, 
In hours of peace alone their vows were paid ; 
When righteous War th' avenging sabre bared, 
And their bold bands uncounted myriads dared ; 
If Victory their gorgeous banners crown' d, 
In triumph streaming o'er the well- fought ground, 
From fierce embattled fields to Sheen they fled, 
And at the altar bow'd the laurell'd head. 
The King of kings from his eternal throne, 
The god of armies, look'd propitious down; 



RICHMOND HILL. 71 

Amid their patriot zeal, their crimes forgave, 
And Mercy veil'd th' excesses of the brave. 

12. With kindred transport warm'd, and rival zeal 
For high Jehovah's praise and Britain's weal, 
In S ion's neighbouring bow'r the virgin train 
Sublimely swell to heav'n the choral strain, 
Or, glowing with seraphic love, prolong, 
In sacred extacy, the bridal song — 
When morn's first orient beam illum'd the skies, 
From all her shades the hallow' d paeans rise ; 
While every secret grot, and winding cell, 
Rang with the warblings of the sacred shell ! 



12. The neighbouring convent and beautiful groves of Si on, founded also by 
Henry V. at the same period with Sheen — now the property and residence of the 
illustrious family of Percy. 



72 RICHMOND HILL. 

Through her enchanting vale, and wooded bound, 
With fragrant shrubs and living verdure crown' d, 
Where still, though exiled from her sacred groves, 
The sainted maid in midnight vision roves, 
As yet no chiefs, in gleaming armour bright, 
Stalk'd dreadful by the moon's reflected light — 
No Percy yet, in S ion's sacred gloom, 
Display'd the terrors of his nodding plume, 
Nor yon proud dome, whose bold embattled brow 
Frowns stern defiance on the plains below, 
Majestic tow'ring on its mighty base, 
Proclaim' d the grandeur of their ancient race : 
A race revered through Europe's farthest bound, 
In arts illustrious, as in arms renown' d, 
Whose counsels oft have saved the sinking state, 
Whose valour snatch'd her from the gulph of fate. 



RICHMOND HILL. 73 

13. Not yet — for still the Tyrant's crimson hand, 
Whose iron scourge oppress' d the groaning land — 
The bloated Henry, insolent and vain, 
Whose will was law through all his wide domain, 
Who, with the blood of half his nobles stain' d, 
God's temples of their hoarded treasures drain' d — 
Forbore to strike the last, the deathful blow, 
That bade her noblest shrines with blood o'erflow ; 
And, in abused Religion's hallow' d name, 
Wrapt priests and temples in devouring flame ! * 



13. Henry VIII. and the Reformation — That monarch's sanguinary atroci- 
ties stigmatized — induced hy his boundless profusion, rather than any real zeal 
for religion, he seizes on the monasteries, and confiscates their immense trea- 
sures — the distractions and distress consequent among an order of men who, in 
many instances, however reprehensible their superstition, were the patrons, and 
their abodes the depositories, of Science — those at Sheen and Sion briefly 
depicted. 

* Nothing more is intended here than to stigmatize with deserved infamy, 
the more sanguinary and tyrannical parts of Henry's conduct, at this important 
period. If Mary wielded a blood-stained sceptre, Henry, by his unprecedented 

L 



74 RICHMOND HILL. 

The scepter 1 d Robber, whose unsparing rage 
No spoils could satiate, and no tears assuage, 

barbarities, under the plea of zeal for religion, had set her a terrible example. In 
Holinshed, Hall, Stowe, and other writers of, or near those times, innumerable 
instances may be found of those cruelties ; Protestants and Papists being often 
burned at the same stake, the former for refusing to take the oaths of supremacy ; 
the latter for rejecting the most absurd of the Catholic doctrines, transubstan- 
tiation. A few of them are subjoined, in proof that the text is not unjustifiably 
severe upon this merciless tyrant. — 

On the 22d of July 1534, was John Frith burned in Smithfield, for the opinion 
of the Sacrament ; and with him, at the same time and at the same stake, suffered 
also one Andrew Hewett, a yong man by occupation a taylor. 

Holinshed, p. 1571. 

A still more lamentable fate attended friar Forest, who for his heresies, as they 
are called, was literally roasted to death ; being, says our author, on a pair of 
new gallows, prepared on purpose for him in Smithfield, hanged up by the middle 
and arm-holes, all quick, and under it was made a fire wherewith he was con- 
sumed and burnt to death. Ibid. 

The 12th of April 1535, the Prior of Chartreaux, at London, the Prior of 
Brevall, the Prior of Exham, Father Reynolds, Confessor of the Nuns at 
Si on, and John, Vicar of Thistleworth (Isleworth), were arraigned and con- 
demned of treason, and thereupon drawne, hanged, and quartered at Tiburne on 
the 4th of May. Their heades and quarters were set over the bridge and gates 
of the citie, one quarter excepted, which was set up at the Chatreaux at 
London. Ibid. Vol. II. p. 1563, edit. 1577. 

The terrible example however was ineffectual, for " on the 19th of June fol- 
lowing were three more monkes of the Chartreaux, hanged, drawne, and 
quartered, at Tiburne, and their heads and quarters set up about London, for 
denying the King to be the supreme heade of the church." Ibid. 



RICHMOND HILL. 75 

Whose sanguine fury to the rav'ning grave, 
Th' unblemish'd wife, and blooming virgin gave, 
At length commands — and War's ferocious train 
The cloister'd iles, and hallow' d glooms profane. 
Far different notes, than from her trump, of old, 
Through gladden'd Zion's holy mountain roll'd, 
With thrilling horror through her groves resound, 
And level fanes and altars with the ground ! 

With beauty deck'd, with countless wealth endow'd, 
Sheen,* at whose jewell'd altar kings had bow'd, 
Sheen early felt the tyrant's wasteful rage, 
And render' d back the spoils of many an age — 
Its lords, who late in princely splendour shone, 
Their plunder' d hoard, and trampled shrine bemoan. 



* The monastery of Sheen is here meant. Richmond lost that appellation 
after the erection of its palace by Henry VII. 



76 RICHMOND HILL. 

The blazing hearth, the hospitable board, 
The vaults, with Burgundy's bright bev'rage stored," 
No more the glow of festive joy impart, 
To cheer the wearied pilgrim's fainting heart; 
Exiled, despoil'd, they cross the billowy foam, 
And in a foreign clime, unpitied, roam. 
Amidst the sacred haunts, the solemn glades, 
Where Science flourish'd in sequester' d shades, 
And the coy Muses, when a tyrant reign d, 
Protection from his Vandal fury gain'd; 
Slaughter and Rapine their ensanguined head 
Triumphant rear, and flames devouring spread ; 
The blazon' d walls, and pictured roofs consume, 
While mangled statues strew the marble dome ; 

* Concessimus etiam praefatis priori et monachis dua dolia, sive quatuor pipas 
vini rubri de Vasconia, habendas et percipiendas in perpetuum sibi et successoribus 
suis de vinis nostris in portu London. Dugd. p. 976. 



RICHMOND HILL. 77 

And rich illumin'd scrolls, an age's toil, 
Perish unrescued mid the boundless spoil. 
Th' afflicted Arts beheld their reign expire, 
And wept, with fruitless tears, th' invading fire ; 
While Genius, tearing her immortal bays, 
Indignant rush'd from the funereal blaze! 

14. While pensive, Sion, in thy bow'rs I stray, 
Mark powVs sad close, and grandeur's swift decay, 
Shall He, who with the noble Percy reigns, 
Lord of these tow'ring woods, and fertile plains, 
To whom, in early life's expanding day, 
I pour r d, in rapture, the resounding lay, 

14. Sion-Hill, Duke of Marlborough — sketch of his Grace's character. — Earls 
of Leicester and Cardigan. — Dukes of Queensberry and Buccleugh< 



78 RICHMOND HILL, 

When Blenheim's glories fired my youthful vein,* 
And Churchill, thundering on the Belgian plain, 
Shall Spencer be unsung — by tow' ring worth 
Still more exalted than illustrious birth ; — 
What though no triumphs of the banner' d field, 
The eternal bays that crown the warrior yield; 
The milder glories that from Virtue beam, 
Around yon bower in full effulgence stream ; 

* Alluding to a Copy of Verses written, when at Oxford, after visiting Blen- 
heim, and addressed to Lord Blandford, which I had the honour of knowing from 
his Lordship were gratifying to the family. I likewise, at an early period com- 
posed, under the sanction of my respected friend, Dr. Percy, the present Bishop of 
Dromore, separate " Elegies" on the Duke and Dutchess of Northumberland, 
which were approved of by that noble family. These pieces, together with 
" Hagley," which the late Lord Lyttelton wrote me word had "illumined the 
shades" of that beautiful place, will be found among my Poems ; a few copies of 
which still remain in the hands of Mr. White, Fleet-street. So long a period 
paving elapsed, since their first publication, it is possible that the noble per- 
sonages concerned may not be aware of the existence of such poems. They 
are hereby, therefore, respectfully reminded of those early productions of my 
Muse, and both they and the present very expensive publication, anxiously 
recommended to their generous protection. 



RICHMOND HILL. 79 

Th' abode of science and of taste proclaim, 
And with new splendour deck a Marlbro's name: 
The letter' d Peer! who wafts the choicest stores 
Of Rome's proud capital to Britain's shores, 
And to our eyes, on radiant gems, displays 
The great, the brave, the wise, of ancient days. 

And Thou ! whose villa from yon lofty brow, 
Proudly o'erlooks the vast expanse below, 
Leicester, of kindred fame, whose eye pervades 
Revered Antiquity's profoundest shades, 
Who lov'st the paradise, my glowing theme ! 
The hill, the woods, the vale, the winding stream; 
Spurn not the Muse, who, mid the blaze of day, 
Beneath the burning solstice wings her way ; 
Each grand, each beauteous object to explore, 
And tread the paths her Denham trod before ; 



80 RICHMOND HILL. 

Nor Cardigan! though Windsor's bastion' d height, 
Thy awful charge ! with nobler charms delight, 
That Muse disdain — who oft, with raptur'd feet, 
At early dawn, hath ranged thy loved retreat — 
Mark'd the first purple gleam of opening day, 
And the last glimmer of its setting ray; 
Or saunt'ring mid the groves that round her soar'd, 
Shade above shade, the lofty numbers pour'd; 
There first to Richmond tuned the votive strings,* 
And tow'rds thy Windsor stretch'd her daring wings. 

Thou too, whose social spirit haunts the shade, 
By Britain's kings and heroes sacred made, 
And round yon echoing roof bids freely roll 
The festive transports of the social soul ; 

# This beautiful retreat was then in the possession of William Sayer, Esq 
a friend of the author ; and it was during a survey of the subjacent 
country, that the first idea of desciibing its beauties darted like inspiration 
into his mind. 



RICHMOND HILL. 81 

While in a regal stream" thy bounty flows 

To soothe the wounded sailor's bleeding woes, 

Revere the Sisters of the sacred well, 

Who wake to glory the resounding shell ; 

Of Albion's chiefs the dauntless feats rehearse, 

And spread their blazon' d fame in deathless verse. 

Nor, though by bards of bolder wing and fire, 

In Branksome's hall be strung the living lyre, 

Will noble Scott — to warrior-kings allied — 

A name, once England's dread, but now her pride! 

Whose spreading willows, in their ample shade, 

Have oft the fever of my blood allay' d, 

Frown on the bard, who, far from Teviot's snows, 

Sings the rich landscape that around him glows. 

* The Duke of Queensberry's magnificent donation of 10001. more than once 
to the subscription at Lloyd's will not be hastily obliterated from the minds of 
the British navy. 

M 



82 RICHMOND HILL. 

15. Imperial Rome, of Gothic rage the prey, 
For many an age a mighty ruin lay ; 
Till Leo rose, her grandeur to restore, 
And bid her ancient laurels bloom once more. 
Thus, buried in Oblivion's barren shade, 
Its grandeur fall'n, its mould' ring tow'rs decay'd, 
To devastation's barbarous rage consign' d, 
Deserted Sheen! thy drooping head declin'd: 
At length a Temple rises to illume 
Thy cheerless shades, and chase the Stygian gloom. 
To her lov'd haunts again the Muse retires, 
Again fair Science lights her wonted fires ! 
Exalted patriot, hail ! enlighten'd sage ! 
Firm, mid contending Faction's fiercest rage; 

15. Science revived within the monastic bounds of Sheen about the close of 
the 17th century, when it became the habitation of the illustrious Sir William 
Temple, with whom Swift resided, and there first saw his celebrated Stella. 



RICHMOND HILL. 83 

Who, mid those shades delighted to explore 
The rich, exhaustless mine of classic lore ; 
Drank at the living fountain's glorious head, 
And wide the stream of sacred science spread — 
There too, with bold excursive genius blest, 
Thy patriot ardour glowing in his breast ; 
The sportive Swift, in many a fragrant bower, 
With manly wit beguiled the social hour ; 
Or, while the charms of beauteous Stella stole, 
With pow'r resistless, on his captive soul, 
Pour'd to the list'ning flood his plaintive lays, 
And made the vocal woods resound her praise-- — 
The Statesman's wisdom, and the Poet's song, 
To Sheen's sweet vale allure the letter' d throng; 
And through her winding glooms, and verdant maze, 
A British king,* once more, enraptur'd strays. 

* Alluding to the frequent visits paid by King William to Sir William Temple 



84 RICHMOND HILL. 

1 6 . Amid this confluence of sublime delight, 
That bursts upon my soul, and charms my sight, 
What deathful shrieks my startled ear invade, 
And turn the blaze of noon to midnight shade ? 



in his retreat at Sheen, which was on the site of the ancient priory, and of which 
in his letters he always speaks with rapture. When his patron was lame with the 
gout, Swift occasionally attended his Majesty round the gardens, and received 
from him some marks of attention, which, however, produced to him no ultimate 
benefit. See Lysons, and Johnson's Life of Swift. 

16. The Lass of Richmond Hill ; a narrative founded on facts well known 
in the neighbourhood of Richmond. 

The story is simply as follows. A young lady, equally accomplished in mind 
and body, the daughter of a merchant of immense wealth, resident on Richmond 
Hill, had consented to receive the addresses of a young officer, of exemplary 
character, and respectable parents, but poor. He belonged to a regiment of 
cavalry then quartered at Richmond ; but his offers were rejected by her father 
on account of that poverty. Apprehensions of a clandestine marriage being 
entertained, the officer was forbidden the house, and the young lady was strictly 
confined within its walls. Continued grief and irritation of spirits led her, in a fit 
of despair bordering on insanity, to precipitate herself from an upper window of 
her father's house, and she was dashed to pieces on the stone steps that formed 
the ascent from the garden into the house. The unfortunate young man after- 
wards served in America, and was shot at the head of his company. This is the 
outline ; the rest is embellishment. 



RICHMOND HILL. 85 

Ye blooming virgins that, delighted, rove 

Sheen's bow'ry walks, and Ham's sequester'd grove, 

Pause in exulting pleasure's full career, 

To mark the martyr'd Mira's passing bier, 

And o'er yon pavement, stain'd with vestal blood, 

Heave the deep sigh, and pour the crystal flood. 

Oh! Rubens, for thy pencil's magic skill, 
To paint the Lass of Richmond's beauteous Hill — 
Oh! for the moaning dove's impassion'd strains, 
Or her's, who to the silent night complains, 
The sorrows of disastrous love to sing, 
And beauty blasted in its dawning spring. 
Well, Richmond, might thy echoing shades bemoan 
Their glory darken'd, and their pride o'erthrown; 
For She was fairer than the fairest maid 
That roams thy beauteous brow, or laurell'd shade; 



86 RICHMOND HILL. 

Than all the roses in thy bow'rs that bloom, 
Or lilies that thy blossom' cl vale perfume. 
Her form was symmetry itself — design' d 
The perfect model of her lovely kind — 
Angelic sweetness, every nameless grace, 
Beam'd in the beauteous oval of her face. — 
Loose to the gale, in many a careless fold, 
Redundant flow'd her locks of waving gold ; 
Her eye, whence love's resistless lightning stream'd, 
The dazzling brilliance of the diamond beam'd ; 
While, like the virgin blush Aurora sheds, 
When genial Spring its opening blossoms spreads, 
In charming contrast with her neck of snow, 
On her soft cheek the bright carnations glow. 
This radiant Wonder was Mercator's pride, 
For whom the winds, with every swelling tide, 



RICHMOND HILL. 87 

Wafted rich gems from India's rubied shore, 
And from Columbian mines the glowing ore : 
The fatal hour that life to Mira gave, 
Consign' d her beauteous mother to the grave. 
Thus, when the gorgeous bird Arabia rears, 
The radiant symbol of revolving years,* 
That loves to bathe amid the solar stream, 
Hatch'd by its heat, and cherish' d by its beam, 
Stretch'd on its costly bed of rich perfumes, 
Amidst the blaze of burning gums consumes ; 
A lovelier Phoenix from its ashes springs, 
Rears its bright crest, and spreads its purple wings. 

Where-e'er she trod, admiring crowds pursued, 
Her sex with envy, man with rapture view'd 

* The Phoenix was supposed, by ancient mythologists, to live five hundred 
years ; and among the Egyptians was therefore the symbol of that astronomical 

CYCLE. 



88 RICHMOND HILL. 

Beauty that might the frigid Stoic move, 

And melt the frozen Anchorite to love ! 

Like the bright star, that gleams around the pole, 

Its central beams on all attractive roll ; 

The shining point that fix'd each gazing eye, 

The cynosure of Sheen's serener sky. 

Pierc'd by this lovelier Helen's fatal charms, 

Each youthful Paris throbb'd with soft alarms ; 

Richmond through all her bounds, like Troy, was fired, 

And in severer flames her sons expired. 

Foremost and comeliest of th' admiring train, 
Thus bound in beauty's adamantine chain, 
The brave Eugenio sued ; nor Mira spurn'd, 
The generous flame that in a soldier burn'd — 
With love united, a sublimer guest, 
Unsullied honour reign d within that breast — 



RICHMOND HILL. 89 

While in the glow of life's exulting prime, 
Of aspect dignified, of port sublime ; 
Skill' d equally to weave the mazy dance, 
And in the battle wield the thund'ring lance, 
His manly beauty every virgin charm'd, 
As Mira's every youth to rapture warm'd. 

Full twenty rolling summers scarce had shed, 
Their ripening honours on his youthful head ; 
Yet in th' ensanguin'd field with conquest crown' d, 
That head a wreath of radiant laurel bound. 
For, fired with high ambition's noble rage, 
He gave to war's rude toils his tenderest age : 
And still, where Glory show 'd the radiant way, 
Braving the polar ice, or tropic day, 
His sabre, in the front of battle raised, 
Flamed in the trench, or on the rampart blazed — 

N 



90 RICHMOND HILL. 

His soul no fear could daunt, no danger move, 
He own'd no victor, but all-conquering Love ! 
With kindred virtues, kindred passion fired, 
For different, but resistless charms admired ; 
Far from the curious crowd's obtrusive gaze, 
In the deep windings of the bow'ry maze ; 
In the dark umbrage of the deepest glade, 
Eugenio, and his lovely Mira, stray' d : 
Or, wand' ring slow by Thames' majestic stream, 
When Cynthia lends to love her guiding beam, 
And conscious orbs, on high, unnumber'd roll, 
Breath cl the soft transports of the impassion'd soul. 
But who the unutterable strain shall tell, 
That from the lips of raptured Valour fell? 
Or paint the scarlet on her cheek that glow'd, 
As through each vein the thrilling accents flow'd: 



RICHMOND HILL. 91 

Titian ! the task transcends thy vaunted pow'r, 
And ever seal'd be Love's mysterious bow'r! 

On such distinguished worth, so fond a pair, 
So valiant this, and that so passing fair, 
To doubt that Heav'n would look benignant down, 
And virtuous love with nuptial transport crown, 
Seem'd impious to the Pow'r that reigns on high, 
And holds the balance of the impartial sky — 
But who, mysterious Providence ! shall scan 
Those deep designs that mock enquiring man? 
Dark rolls the tempest through the turbid air, 
And through the gloom ensanguin'd meteors glare; 
Cimmerian horrors shade th' Idalian grove, 
And furies revel in the bowers of love. 
A ravening daemon, from the lowest hell, 
Avarice ! stalk' d forth from her infernal cell — 



92 RICHMOND HILL. 

On stern Mercator rush'd the haggard wight, 
And each fair prospect veil'd in endless night, 
While Hymen with his purple train retires, 
With lamp inverted, and extinguish'd fires. 
Girded with triple steel, his savage heart 
Was dead to love, and callous to his dart ; 
No charms in valour could his eye behold, 
Nor worth but in Potosi's treasured gold. 
Ardent, but secret : , was the flame that prey'd 
On the adoring youth, and matchless maid : 
In vain with purest fires Eugenio burn'd, 
And ardent love with ardour was return'd ; 
No Indian gems were his, nor treasured ore, 
His only fortune was the sword he bore — 
Yet in his veins the blood of heroes stream'd, 
And on his face his generous lineage bearnd. 



RICHMOND HILL. 93 

Thus to Despair's unpitied pangs consign'd, 
Full many a moon with wasting fires they pined : 
On Mira's cheek the living roses fade, 
Corroding cares destroy the beauteous maid ; 
Nor more with festive joy Eugenio glows, 
While round the board the sparkling nectar flows — 
Despair, at length, and grief, resolve inspire, 
With trembling steps they seek the haughty sire ; 
Submissive at a parent's feet they bow, 
And all the guilt of spotless love avow — 
The pangs that heav'd Eugenio's struggling breast, 
With manly eloquence the youth express' d; 
While sighs, and bursting tears, too well declare 
The keener anguish of the afflicted Fair — 
But who the tiger's fury shall assuage? 
Who check the southern whirlwind's wasteful rage ? 



94 RICHMOND HILL. 

The bare avowal of their cherish'd flame, 
With horror shook Mercator's trembling frame — 
He saw his treasured hoards, that buried lay, 
Dragg'd from their deep recesses into day — 
In air Ambition's tow'ring projects blown, 
And all the labours of his life o'erthrown: 
With frantic aspect, and terrific tone, 
He bade Eugenio from those walls begone — 
Then from his struggling arms his daughter tore, 
Never to clasp those angel beauties more — 
Obsequious myrmidons rush in — and bear, 
Far from his longing sight, the shrieking fair — 
With horror fill'd, yet glowing with disdain, 
Scarce could th' indignant youth his ire restrain — 
Vengeance on all the dastard throng to pour, 
And deluge with their blood the crimson'd floor; 



RICHMOND HILL. 95 

A parent's rights and venerated name 
Check'd at its height resentment's kindled flame: 
Slow he retires from all his soul held dear, 
While down his cheek descends the starting tear ; 
That tear, which foreign to his soul was shed, 
That cheek, by burning rage with crimson spread. 
With bolts of steel the massy gates are barr'd, 
And fiends, in human form, the entrance guard. 

Thus, from her loved Eugenio rudely torn, 
Thus, doom'd in endless solitude to mourn; 
Debarr'd each joy the smiling Loves impart, 
When bounds, in youth's gay spring, th' exulting heart ; 
For ever bath'd in tears her beauteous eye, 
And bursting from her breast th 5 incessant sigh ; 
Of soul-distracting pangs the hopeless prey, 
Desponding Mira pass'd the tedious day. 



96 RICHMOND HILL. 

While, direr than the dragon, famed of old, 
That watch' d Hesperia's fruits of blooming gold ; 
Where'er she treads, a hideous hag is near, 
Whose hoarse invectives stun her deafen'd ear. 

No Cupids hover round her evening bow'r, 
In painful vigils roll'd the midnight hour ; 
Or, oft invok'd to suffering Beauty's aid, 
Through the dire horrors of the incumbent shade, 
If Sleep her opiate balm indulgent shed, 
Terrific phantoms glare around her bed. 
In blood now wading o'er th' embattled plain, 
She seeks her Love mid heaps of warriors slain; 
Or, wrack' d with all the tortures of despair, 
Beholds him wedded to some happier fair ! 
Graved on her breast the gloomy portrait reigns, 
And the high roofs resound her piteous strains ! 



RICHMOND HILL. 97 



One fatal morn — ere yet the Fount of day 
Illumed the mountains with his golden ray — 



When by prolong'd, intense, distracting thought, 
To all the fever of delirium wrought ; 
Her guardian's eyes in leaden slumbers clos'd, 
Those Argus eyes, that ne'er by day repos'd; 
Soft from her tear-drench'd couch, unheard, unseen, 
Stole the sweet Maniac of admiring Sheen — 
To one belov'd balcony urg'd her flight, 
Where boundless prospects charm' d the roving sight : 
For o'er the skies, with glowing crimson spread, 
Her richest vernal tints Aurora shed : 
Eager around she roll'd her streaming eyes, 
While in her soul remember'd raptures rise ; 
But chief thy bow'rs, enchanting Sheen! invite, 
The groves of bliss, the gardens of delight! 

o 



98 RICHMOND HILL. 

Where, with her vanquish'd heart's triumphant Lord, 
She oft had ranged, adoring and adored! 

And now inciting daemons stronger drew 
His pictured form before her phrenzied view, 
A form, the sainted maid with love to fire, 
Glowing with beauty — burning with desire — 
Not great Alcides, in his loveliest bloom, 
Wav'd with more majesty his warrior-plume, 
Than that fair Image which its outstretch' d arms 
Impatient spread, to clasp her bridal charms. 
The glittering vision fired her maddening brain, 
Nor did the phantom stretch its arms in vain — 
With furious transport, from that dizzy height, 
Headlong she sprang, and sunk in endless night ! 



RICHMOND HILL. 



CANTO II. 

1. Less fiercely bright, the Sun's descending fires 
Flame on the glittering domes and gilded spires ; 
The Muse, emerging from Hesperian plains, 
The summit of her favourite Mount regains — 
With heighten' d charms, and tints of lovelier hue, 
The boundless landscape bursts again to view ! 
While sportive Zephyrs, on their downy wings, 
Waft the pure incense of Arabian springs. 

1. Distant prospect from Richmond Hill — Sir Joshua Reynolds. — 



100 RICHMOND HILL. 

Ye swelling hills ! that, through the changeful year, 
Rich in the radiant robe of spring appear; 
Ye happy valleys ! whose abundant soil, 
Pregnant with life, scarce need the rustic's toil ; 
Ye sparkling floods, that, as you murmuring flow, 
With richer treasures than Pactolus glow ; 
Fanes ! that their founders' pious zeal proclaim, 
Castles! that prove their glorious thirst of fame — 
To you, once more, my duteous vows I pay, 
And pour, at Nature's shrine, the fervid lay. 

Oh ! thou, who oft, from this enchanting height, 
Impress' d with mingled wonder and delight, 
With morn's first blush, or evening's chasten'd ray, 
O'er yon vast champaign stretch'd thy wide survey, 
Oh! Reynolds, were thy daring genius mine, 
Thy vivid colouring, with thy bold design, 



RICHMOND HILL. 101 

With what resistless power the song should roll, 
What raptures kindle in the impassion' d soul? 
While the rich varied scene, that breathes around, 
Far as proud Windsor's tow'rs th' horizon bound, 
A picture brilliant as thy own shou'd rise, 
As lovely pastures, and as cloudless skies ; 
And o'er the bright poetic canvass flow, 
The warmest colours that in nature glow ; 
Here the bright saffron tints unrivall'd spread, 
There the rich carmine all its glories shed, 
Woods, mountains, vales, in all their blooming pride, 
And Thames for ever in my Richmond glide. 



102 RICHMOND HILL, 



WIMBLEDON. 

2. No longer dazzled by the noontide glare. 
For distant fields, advent'rous Muse, prepare — 
On eagle wings direct thy daring flight 
Towrds lofty Wimbledon's dark, bounding height; 
Imbowr'd in woods, each lovely brow ascend, 
Down her deep sloping vales delighted bend ; 
Each winding walk, each shadowy dell explore, 
And range the groves great Burleigh rang'd before. 

In her wide circuit o'er yon blissful plains, 
Where Flora revels, and Vertumnus reigns, 
Though many a beauteous image, deep imprest, 
Glows on the tablet of her faithful breast ; 

2. Wimbledon, Earl Spencer — Picturesque view of London from an eminence 
in the Park — The prospect of the river, and the navy of England, naturally bring 
to the recollection of every grateful Briton his obligations to the Noble Owner 
during the period of his presiding at the Admiralty— the Burleigh of his day. 



RICHMOND HILL. ios 

Though many a lovely glade her feet have trod, 
Beauty's famed haunt, and grandeur's proud abode! 
Save Richmond's bow'rs, with regal splendor crown'd, 
Through all enchanting Surrey's verdant bound, 
Than Wimbledon's no loftier shades invite, 
Nor lovelier prospects charm th' admiring sight. 

Whether o'er many a fertile region roll'd, 
By Ceres cloth' d with undulating gold, 
To Hampstead's lofty brow, and Caen- wood Grove, 
Great Murray's pride ! her eye excursive rove; 
Or where, sublime, amid her classic bow'rs, 
The lofty spire of laurell'd Harrow tow'rs ; 
On every side what nameless beauties charm, 
The glittering villa, and the cultur'd farm, 
Wide-sweeping downs," where fiery coursers strain, 
Hills white with sheep, and valleys rich in grain! 

* The beautiful downs of Epsom. 



104 RICHMOND HILL. 

Health glows in every face — in every grove 
The shouts of pleasure, and the songs of love — 
While from a hundred village steeples round, 
Loud peals of rustic harmony resound. 

But nobler still — to crown th' unrivall'd view* 
Brighter than ever fabling pencil drew — 
Immensely spread through yon rich peopled vale, 
Where busy Commerce crowds her swelling sail; 
There — where, collected from its farthest shores, 
The ransack' d earth its countless treasures pours — 
All radiant in the sun's descending beam, 
The shining turrets of Augusta gleam ! 
Majestic rising, where the expanding tide, 
With triumph, views Britannia's navy ride ; 
Whose deathless fame so high her Spencer rais'd, 
When on the seven-mouth'd Nile her ensigns blaz'd. 



RICHMOND HILL. 105 

Spencer, whose soul with kindred genius fraught, 
Sublimely planrid, while valiant Nelson fought. 
When that bold Hero, skill' d, at either pole, 
On the proud foe the storm of war to roll, 
Launch'd the red light'ning on her torrid coast, 
And hurl'd dismay through Gaul's affrighted host — 
When groaning Egypt saw, with raptur'd eyes, 
A Saviour from the western ocean rise, 
Nor hail'd, with songs, the Barker Sirius more, * 
Charm' d with the British Lion's louder roar. 

Imperial Villa ! in whose classic shade 
Monarchs have slept, immortal statesmen stray 'd ; 
Thy beauteous slopes delighted to descend, 
Along thy vales of loveliest verdure bend ; 

* The reader scarcely need be informed in what idolatrous veneration Sirius, 
or the Dog-star, was anciently holden in Egypt. Its rising proclaimed the com- 
mencement x>f the New Year, and the Inundation of the River, almost equally 
adored. See Indian Antiquities, Vol. III. chap. 2. 

P 



106 RICHMOND HILL. 

Or, on thy hills, the stream of life inhale, 
And drink ambrosia from the scented gale. — 
As o'er the proud, historic page we turn, 
What blended passions in our bosoms burn, 
While all the Spirits of the glorious dead, 
In peace who counsell'd, or in war who bled,* 
Sages and chiefs, thy ancient Lords, arise, 
And sweep, in ermin'd pomp, before our eyes. 
And well might scenes, thus dazzling to the sight. 
Give joy to Heroes, and to Kings delight; 
While all thy beauties in unclouded day, 
Woods, waters, vistas, met their charm cl survey! 



* The names of the illustrious possessors of Wimbledon are enumerated in Mr. 
Lysons, Vol. I. p. 521. Among them are Thomas Cromwell Earl of Essex, Queen 
Catherine Parr, Sir Christopher Hatton, Sir Thomas Cecil Earl of Exeter, and his 
father, the great Lord Burleigh (who entertained Queen Elizabeth here for three 
days), with many others; the catalogue terminating with Sarah Duchess of Marl- 
borough, from whom it descended in a direct line to the present Earl. 



RICHMOND HILL. 107 

Mark, through the valley, where yon ample tide 
Majestic spreads with all a river's pride — 
'Twas Brown that hollow'd out its mighty bed, 
And from their springs the confluent waters led. 
What odours from the spacious garden flow, 
Where all the lovelier plants in nature blow? 
Brought from the freezing pole, or burning line, 
Amid those bow'rs in brilliant rows to shine. 
As, mid their various painted tribes, we rove, 
We seem transported to some eastern grove — 
What prodigies of glowing beauty rise, 
How rich the fragrance, and how bright the dies ! 
All is Elysium through these matchless plains ; 
All proves — in these proud bow'rs a Spencer reigns ! 

With Cecil's virtues warm, with Cecil's fires, 
Hither, from crowded senates, he retires ; 



108 RICHMOND HILL. 

Intensely musing, scans the classic page, 
The polish'd Burleigh of a wiser age ! 
Where-e'er the flame of ardent genius glows, 
His bounty, like the cheering sun-beam, flows ; 
Seeks out her toiling sons through every clime, 
And rescues science from the gulph of time : 
While in yon beautiful and splendid dome," 
Worthy Mecaenas, and imperial Rome, 
In shining ranks, and gorgeous vesture bright, 
Each honour' d Ancient beams upon the sight; 
Their page the wond'ring sage delighted turns, 
And kindling youth with emulation burns. 

To deck their Patron's brow, the grateful Nine 
The garlands of unfading glory twine- — 

* Lord Spencer's noble mansion in the Green-park, containing one of the finest 
Libraries in the kingdom, may, on a bright day, be clearly distinguished from the 
eminences in the park at Wimbledon. 



RICHMOND HILL. 109 

While cherish'd Genius bids thy blazon' d name 
For ever radiate on the roll of Fame. 




LORD NELSON. 

3. While Wimbledon, thro' all her charming bounds, 
With songs of love, and festive joy resounds, 
In Merton's neighbouring vale, and hallow' d groves, 
Where once, so fam'd, neglected Wandle roves, 
And mid the lofty walls, with moss o'erspread, 
Yon ruin'd Abbey rears its crumbling head* 



3. Merton Abbey, Lord Nelson — his astonishing bravery and profound skill in 
naval tactics — Elegiac lines on his Lordship. 

* "Near the church," writes Aubrey, A. D. 1673, "stood a most magnificent 
abbey, founded by King Henry I. for Canons of the order of St. Austin, in 1121, 
dedicated to the ever-blessed Virgin Mary. 

" The abbey walls (which are eight feet high, of flint) contain sixty-five acres. 
A fine clear stream runs through the grounds, in which are excellent trout; it 
passes by the kitchen, and drives a mill; this stream is the river Wandle, which 



no RICHMOND HILL. 

While o'er its ruins, piled in mouldring heaps, 
The streaming eye of Superstition weeps — 
In that delightful vale that heard of yore, 
The thunder of the barbarous battle roar,* 
Saw the fierce Dane his raven standard rear, 
And vanquish'd Britain bend beneath his spear; 



riseth at Croydon. There is but little of the old abbey remaining. The tradition 
is that, heretofore, there were seven chapels. One of them is remaining still, with 
an old pulpit, and two old gates. That the bells of St. Mary Overy came from this 
abbey, I have heard Mr. Pepys, and the oldest parishioners affirm, who also talk of 
seven parish churches within these walls, but they, probably, mean chapels. The 
prior of Merton abbey was a mitred prior. At the sacrilegious dissolution it was 
valued, according to Speed, at 1039/. Ss. 3d. ; by Dugdale at 957/. 19*. 5d. per 
annum." Aubrey's Antiquities of Surrey, Vol. I. p. 9,9,6. 

At present ( 1807) there is no other vestige of this celebrated abbey than the 
east window of a chapel of crumbling stone, and which Mr. Lysons supposes, from 
the style of its architecture, to have been built in the 15th century. Its site is 
occupied by extensive manufactories for printing calicoes. 

* Alluding to an old tradition, recorded in Huntingdon, and other British his- 
torians, of a great battle between the Danes and Anglo-Saxons having been 
anciently fought at Merton, in which the former were victorious. 



RICHMOND HILL. in 

Or, when no longer gleam'd the avenging blade, 
The Muses loitering in the laurell'd shade ; 
And mid the silence of the midnight gloom, 
While pealing anthems shook the vaulted dome, 
And the bright blazing roofs seem'd all on fire, 
Echoed the raptures of the warbling quire — 
Why, through each gloomy brake, and lonely dell, 
Resounds the solemn dirge's mournful swell? 
Funereal torches shoot their baleful glare, 
And the proud trophied banners wave in air? 

These mournful honours that attend the brave, 
Those glittering trophies that adorn their grave ; 
The sable pomp that slowly moves along, 
Of weeping Nobles, an illustrious throng — 
The Senate's sighs, a Monarch's starting tear, 
And Princes, bending o'er th' untimely bier, 



112 RICHMOND HILL. 

To Europe loud proclaim the deathful blow, 
That bids a nation's bursting sorrows flow, — 
Her noblest Chief, that swept the stormy main, 
Her glory's proudest prop — her Nelson slain! 

Long had his arm her righteous vengeance hurl'd. 
Through every region of the subject world — 
Now mid the tropic's scorching heat he glows, 
Now braves the rigour of the polar snows ; 
Sublimely, now, in realms of orient day, 
Her thunders vibrate, and her streamers play ! 
Where-e'er his daring keel resistless bends, 
Conquest, with giant strides, its course attends ; 
In all triumphant — but, with brightest rays, 
The unrivall'd glories of Trafalgar blaze! 

O'er half the globe the recreant foe he sought, 
Then on fate's dreadful verge, intrepid, fought; 



RICHMOND HILL. 113 

With hideous crash where thund'ring breakers roar, 
And rocks and quicksands line the treacherous shore. 
Amid the cannon's dreadful burst serene. 
Where fiercest raged the battle, foremost seen, 
Too prodigal of life, each danger spurn d, 
His mighty soul alone for Britain burn'd — 
In vain the hostile fires around him glow, 
And missive deaths in ceaseless torrents flow ! 
Fearless, as when, beneath Egyptian skies, 
He viewed, to heav'n the blazing rafters rise,* 
Amidst encircling flames the Warrior stood, 
While Ocean roll'd beneath, a crimson flood! — 
And on the vaunting foe that braved her ire, 
Launch' d, with retorted rage, th' avenging fire — 



* Alluding to the explosion of Admiral Brueys' ship, the L' Orient, and other 
French men of war at Aboukir. 



114 RICHMOND HILL. 

Nor shrunk the Chief, when through his wounded side 
He felt the rending death- wing' d weapon glide ; 
But cheer' d with fault'ring voice the valiant train, 
His faithful comrades on the billowy plain ; 
His last commands in vollied thunder gave, 
And beams of Glory light him to the grave ! 

To Paul's imperial fane with tears consign'd, 
His sacred dust with heroes rests inshrin'd, 
While high above that venerated bier, 
Where latest times shall drop the grateful tear, 
Iberia's gorgeous banners, wide display'd, 
In grandeur waving, cast their solemn shade. 
His Soul, enraptur'd, seeks its starry home, 
By angels wafted to yon blazing dome ; 
Amid the brightest of its orbs to glow, 
And fire, with kindred rage, the brave below. 



RICHMOND HILL. 115 



MR. PITT. 

4. O'er Valour, slumb'ring on its marble bed, 
Where yon proud pile exalts its tow' ring head ; 
O'er the fam'd Chief of that immortal band, 
Who roll'd her thunder o'er th' Egyptian strand ; 
Scarce has fond Albion ceased her tears to pour, 
Or paused the dirge on her resounding shore — 
Scarce hush'd the boist'rous storm whose fury gave 
The Nile's fam'd Hero to the rav'ning grave ; 
When, lo ! new scenes of added horror rise, 
And darker tempests cloud the low' ring skies! 



4. Putney, the awful scene of the ever to be lamented death of Mr. Pitt — - 
Elegiac lines sacred to the memory of that great Statesman ! — His mighty genius, 
his unshaken fortitude, his unrivalled eloquence. 



116 RICHMOND HILL, 

With louder still and more terrific swell 
Why rolls the solemn curfew's deep'ning knell? 

la 

What blacker train of aggravated woes 
Does the dark register of Fate disclose? 
What direr plagues offended heav'n prepare, 
To plunge a groaning nation in despair ? 
Resounded, Putney, o'er thy lonely heath, 
Loud and prolong'd, are heard the shrieks of death ; 
While plaintive Echo, to Augusta's fanes, 
O'er yon rich valley wafts the dirge-like strains. 
What kindred Offspring of a brighter sphere 
On this dark ball hath closed his proud career? 
Like Nelson's, bursting from the bond of clay, 
Impatient for the dazzling realms of day, 
What awful Spirit bends its rapid flight 
Through yon ethereal fields of orient light ? 



RICHMOND HILL. 117 

Midst Virtue's, Britain's, Freedom's mingled sighs, 
Immortal Pitt ascends his native skies ; 
Seeks the bright Fountain, whence th' eternal flame 
Of his sublime, unbounded Genius came ! 
And pure in soul as the seraphic quire, 
Mounts with their wing, and kindles with their fire. 
Again its vows a sorrowing nation pays, 
Again on high the banner' d trophies blaze : 
Europe's loud voice laments her Saviour gone, 
And kings, the bulwark of the tott'ring throne. 

While with rekindled fires her altars burn, 
And richest incense feeds the flaming urn, 
Those fires, those altars, rescued from the foe, 
Whose rage forbade the sacred flame to glow ; 
Religions self, whose high and hallow' d cause, 
While crowded senates thunder' d back applause, 



118 RICHMOND HILL. 

Thy voice sustain'd, — Religion, o'er thy bier, 
Heaves the deep sigh, and sheds the grateful tear ! 
Enlighten' d Statesman! whose expanded soul 
Pervaded Europe to the frozen Pole ; — 
Her empires in thy mighty balance weigh'd, 
And propt the sinking with thy pow'rful aid ; 
Whose tow'ring, bold, and comprehensive view, 
Grasp'd all Locke thought, and letter'd Bacon knew; 
What daring pencil, what unbounded verse, 
Shall the proud story of thy fame rehearse ? 
Thy throbbing heart beat high for Britain's weal, 
And Britain lov'd thee with a parent's zeal; 
For her in toil was past thy anxious day, 
And sleepless roll'd the midnight hour away; 
Till wasting cares at length in death repose, 
And everlasting sleep those eyelids close ! 



RICHMOND HILL. 119 

Shall Parian marbles, shall the breathing bust, 
Still rise majestic o'er ignoble dust ? 
Still shall the sculptors, still the painter's fire, 
The herald's trophied pomp, the poet's lyre, 
To blazon crimes afford their guilty aid, 
And snatch the worthless from oblivion's shade? 
Ye venal Muses, cease your warbled lays ; 
Hide, blushing Science ! hide thy tarnish'd bays ; 
'Tis only, Genius ! round thy hallow'd urn, 
Their fires should kindle, and their lustre burn. 

If ever Merit claim'd a gorgeous shrine, 
Where science, talents, might their pow'rs combine, 
Thine, Son of Chatham, is that lofty claim, 
In whom concentred, burn'd their two-fold flame : 
Who, jirm amidst contending factions stood, 
Though round, in billows, raged the hostile flood! 



12,0 RICHMOND HILL. 

Like Abdiel, faithful mid the faithless found, 
And poor, though countless millions blaz'd around ! 
But, radiant in its own immortal fame, 
No foreign splendours can exalt thy name ; 
Though grateful Britain o'er thy lofty tomb 
Rear the proud arch, and swell the marble dome ; 
Though Granta round thy urn her treasures pour, 
And bid to heav'n her tow'ring statues soar;* 
Though some new Phidias all his skill bestow, 
Or Rubens bid the breathing canvass glow ; — 
Still, Pitt, a prouder monument remains, 
And on our hearts engrav'd thy memory reigns ! 
Thine are the brightest palms that ever shed 
Their hallow'd lustre o'er the mighty dead! 



* In allusion to the noble subscription entered into at Cambridge to erect his 
Statue in that University. 



RICHMOND HILL. 121 

Palms that shall live when sculptur'd brass shall fade, 
And marbles crumble to the dust they shade ! 

Of fervid eloquence, what raptured age, 
Sublimer, heard the classic torrent rage ? — 
Not Greece, when blasted Philip felt its ire, 
Not Rome, when fearless Tully launch'd its fire, — 
Than struck with awe the Senate's wond'ring throng, 
When thy bold strain impetuous rush'd along, 
That on the vanquished heart resistless wrought, 
While glowing language cloth' d the burning thought 
Thy strenuous voice, for truth and freedom bold, 
In such a tone of manly vigour roll'd, 
Gaul's hateful tyrant shudder' d at the sound, 
While ev'ry hostile nation trembled round ; 
Its thunder dealt a more decisive blow 
Than fleets and armies on th' astonish'd foe ! 

R 



122 RICHMOND HILL. 

With genius born beyond this dark terrene, 
With pow'rs too mighty for this bounded scene, 
Thy high, thy arduous race with glory run, — ,' 
Thy setting radiant as thy rising sun: — 
Through boundless space now roves th' unfetter' d soul, 
And views beneath it worlds unnumber'd roll ; 
Or, Guardian of imperial thrones below, 
Delight' st around the jasper throne to glow ; 
While, veil'd from mortals, to thy raptur'd gaze 
His vast designs th' Almighty Sire displays ; 
Of all that to thine eye mysterious seem'd, 
Or on this darkling sphere but faintly beam'd, 
Unfolds the vast, sublime, connecting chain, 
And all the dazzling wonders of that reign, 
Which through eternity's bright day extends, 
And the bold stretch of angel thought transcends. 



RICHMOND HILL. 123 

Whate'er in those bright realms thine high employ, 
To saints gives pleasure, or to angels joy ; 
Whether mid rolling orbs thy spirit stray, 
Or range the galaxy's refulgent way; 
As Time's vast cycles urge their swift career, 
And nations crouch beneath a despot's spear; 
Oh! from those bright abodes of bliss look down, 
From fiend-like rage protect the British crown, — 
And, till the last dread century expire, 
Stars turn to dust, and planets melt in fire, 
On high the radiant Shield of Glory wave, 
And guard that Empire which thou diedst to save.* 



* The author sincerely hopes that the worthy and pious Prelate, who saw this 
Poem previously to its publication in the present form, and objected to this con- 
cluding line, will pardon his retaining it, since by the sentiment contained in it 
nothing more could possibly be intended than, what is the admitted fact, that Mr. 
Pitt sacrificed his life, to save his country. To avoid giving offence, he 
devoted a considerable portion of time to the correction and alteration of the 



124 RICHMOND HILL. 



FULHAM. 

5. What wild melodious warblings, rich and clear, 
As from the groves of Eden, greet my ear? 
To Fulham's beauteous glades those strains invite, 
Fulham, of old the mitred Seer's delight! 
Cloth' d with the verdure of eternal spring, 
With vernal notes those glades for ever ring. 

Mid the deep shade of yon sequester'd bow'r, 
Where plants of noblest growth, majestic, tow'r — 



passage, but every thing substituted in its place seemed to him so insipid, so utterly 
inadequate to convey the idea intended to be inculcated, that he was compelled, af- 
ter frequent erasure, to restore the original words. In other respects his Lordship 
will find his obliging hints scrupulously attended to. 

5. Fulham, the Bishop of London. — Number and variety of exotic plants in the 
episcopal garden — Bishops Compton, Sherlock, Lowth. 



RICHMOND HILL. 125 

Whose giant sires, sublime in native pride, 
The storm on bleak Columbia's hills defied; 
Or, in the blaze of Asia's boundless day, 
Their broad umbrageous canopy display — 
To a reclaim'd, admiring age endear'd, 
By kings beloved, by vice itself revered, 
In dignified repose, and fair renown, 
Porteus, thy evening glides, unclouded, down. 
Beneath the gloom yon aged cypress throws, 
Sapp'd by an hundred winters' chilling snows, 
Or where yon pines exalt the tow' ring head, 
And proud Acacia's fragrant branches spread; 
While thousand choice exotic plants in bloom, 
O'er that fair lawn waft coolness and perfume — 
How many Prelates — wise, and famed, and great, 
Boasts of the church, and pillars of the state — 



126 RICHMOND HILL 

Like Porteus, crown' d with those unfading bays 
Whose lustre dimm'd the Mitre's feebler rays, 
Have pensive paus'd — with holy transport fired! 
Or pour' d the strain the heav'nly Muse inspired; 
Such as his daring genius roll'd along,* 
Who to Messiah waked the burning song ; 
The lineal glories traced of Judah's throne, 
And made Isaiah's lofty page our own — 
Or where imperial Thames' expanding wave, 
Fulham, exults thy classic bounds to lave, 
Along the flow'ry marge, delighted, stray'd, 
While choral warblings fill'd each hallow' d glade; 
Survey'd the beauteous landscape glowing round, 
The cloudless lustre of the blue profound — 
Earth's living verdure — shade o'er arching shade, 
In all the pomp of sylvan pride display'd — 

* See the " Genealogy of Christ." &c. by Bishop Lowth. 



RICHMOND HILL. 127 

The stately-gliding bark — the dashing oar — 
The lovely villas on each winding shore, 
The sister tow'rs* that, many a rolling age, 
Have braved, secure, the tempest's boisterous rage ; 
And, without terror heard, on life's drear verge, 
The curfew sounding o'er the silver surge. 

For oft those bow'rs have heard its awful swell 
Resound their transient lord's funereal knell; 
And where yon hoar majestic pile+ ascends, 
That o'er the wave its length' ning shade extends, 
Amid the darksome vaults, and mouldVing shrines, 
Full many a laurell'd head in peace reclines! 
Oh ! soft o'er Compton lie the flow'ry sod 
His hand adorn' d, his feet enraptur'd trod ; 
Mourn, Eloquence, o'er Sherlock's honour' d bier, 
And, Genius ! shed o'er Lowth the duteous tear. 

* Fulham and Putney steeples. f Fulham church. 



128 RICHMOND HILL. 



CHISWICK. 

6. Genius of Sculpture, lead my rapture! feet 
Through fancy's bower to Chiswick's blest retreat! 
Where Kent and Burlington their powers combin'd 
To form yon dome, with Attic skill design'd. 
Yet though, great Boyle, sublime thy talents shone, 
Though Greek and Roman lore was all thy own, 
To perfect the proud plan were wanting still 
The daring efforts of a Wyatt's skill ; 
The classic taste that Cavendish" inspir'd, 
And all the spirit that a Spencer+ fir'd! 

6. Chiswick, Duke of Devonshire — beauty and classic celebrity of that de- 
lightful villa — its architectural and sculptural decorations — a poetical tribute of 
genuine respect to the memory of her Grace, Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. 

* The present Duke of Devonshire. f The late Duchess of Devonshire. 



RICHMOND HILL* 129 

Hail, beauteous Chiswick ! hail, sequester' d Seat! 
Where all that's chaste, and grand, and beauteous meet! 
Fairer than eer Palladio's* fancy plann'd, 
Or rose beneath a Jones's* daring hand. 
Hail thy proud Portico ! thy swelling Dome ! 
Thy happy mingled scene of light and gloom, 
Where, now, rich lawns, in vernal beauty bright, 
Expanding to meridian suns, invite : 
Now, rows of cedar cast their solemn shade, 
And artificial darkness wraps the glade. 
Hail thy sweet Terrace! whence, with eager gaze, 
To Sheen's lov'd bowr the eye delighted strays ; 
Where Philomel, in Hope's delightful grove,+ 
Swells high the strain of rapture and of love ! 

* Statues, finely executed, of these very eminent architects, are placed on each 
side of the portico. -j- Henry Hope, Esq. 



130 RICHMOND HILL 

Hail thy long Vistas ! hail thy dark Alcoves 
Where Genius muses, and where Beauty roves ; 
Where Pope, delighted, led the laurell'd throng, 
And pour'd, spontaneous, the resounding song; 
Where Thomson, wand' ring near his fav'rite tide, 
Beheld the rolling Seasons sweetly glide : 
And patriot chiefs, the glory of their age ! 
Felt freedom's throb, and burn'd with Grecian rage. 

On thy proud roofs and walls, that richly glow 
With all the tints that deck the glitt'ring bow, 
The mighty Masters, who, through ev'ry clime, 
Have wak'd the pencil's magic pow'r sublime — 
Lighted the fire in Beauty's sparkling eyes, 
And on her cheek the rich vermilion dyes — 
O'er well-feign'd skies pour'd light's refulgent stream, 
Morn's purple flush, or Hesper's crimson beam; 



RICHMOND HILL. 131 

The Titians of their day ! who knew to roll 
The flood of transport o'er the astonish'd soul, 
In all their glory shine — nor these alone, 
But they whose skill inform' d the breathing stone, 
Who, like Prometheus, stole th' etherial ray, 
And with its fervor fired the senseless clay ; 
With daedal power the ductile ore who wrought, 
And gave to figur'd brass the glow of thought. 
Where-e'er I turn, the glorious dead arise, 
In busts and statues, to my wond'ring eyes ; 
While, in the bosom of yon beauteous vale, 
Where richest odours scent the vernal gale, 
From thousand aromatic shrubs that rise, 
The gorgeous offspring of antarctic skies ! 
Or the deep gloom of yon embow'ring wood, 
With serpent folds where glides the winding flood, 



132 RICHMOND HILL. 

The tow'ring obelisk, and swelling dome, 
And urns and statues, once the boast of Rome ! 
With tasteful skill, in rich profusion spread, 
O'er all an air of classic grandeur shed. 

But ah ! what sudden clouds obscure the day, 
And veil their beauties from my charm' d survey. 
Again the curfew's awful notes invade 
The dark recesses of the trembling shade ; 
A deeper dye yon sombrous yews assume, 
Yon cedars frown with an intenser gloom. 
Again the dire funereal torches burn, 
And the pale phantoms of the dead return ; 
Who late in crowded courts majestic moved, 
By ev'ry throbbing heart admir'd, beloved — 
That beauteous form the anguish'd eye beholds, 
Wrapt in the mantling shroud's oblivious folds; 



RICHMOND HILL. 133 

Those matchless charms insatiate worms corrode, 
And horror reigns in beauty's lov'd abode — 
Ah ! what avails it o'er the unconscious dust, 
To rear the sculptur'd arch, the breathing bust, 
Statues, with those in Chiswick's bow'rs that vie, 
And fanes, and columns, tow'ring mid the sky. 



DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE. 

When, fall'n to earth, the proud sepulchral shrine, 
Where Grandeur's sons, in trophied pomp, recline; 
When animated brass hath ceased to glow, 
And marbles charm no more with well-feign'd woe ; 
When cold the poet's hand, and quench' d his fire, 
When science withers, and the arts expire ; 



134 RICHMOND HILL. 

Virtue still towers, immortal and sublime, 
Beyond the grasp of Fate, the rage of Time. 
This sacred spot her brightest beams illume, 
Cheer the dark vault, and chase the midnight gloom, 
Nor Virtue's ardent flame alone inspired, 
Devon, eternal truth thy bosom fired ; 
Pure as the altar's — where its kindling rays 
In youth were lighted- — burn'd its vestal blaze! 
Heav'n, too, its choicest, noblest gift bestow'd, 
In thee the hallow'd flame of genius glow'd; 
While, form'd by beauty, as by birth to shine, 
Pure, classic taste, and sterling sense were thine ; 
Each grace, by science heighten'd, brighter shone, 
Delighted polish'd courts, and charm'd a throne, 
Struck Envy dumb, disarm'd Detraction's rage, 
And bound in fetters an admiring age ! 



RICHMOND HILL, 135 

Brilliant Exemplar, on this bounded sphere, 
Where darkling mortals run their blind career, 

* 

Of all that dignifies, endears thy kind, 

In form an angel, with an angel's mind ! 

With every high and generous feeling fraught, 

Whose eye beam'd goodness, and whose look was thought. 

What equal pencil shall thy worth display, 

What breast not kindle at the bright survey? 

Within thy faithful bosom's chaste retreat, 

High-thron'd, Benevolence had fix'd her seat ; 

There — warm, energic, springing from the soul, 

The social passions shed their soft control, 

While liberal, as the gale that flows around, 

To suffering worth thy bounty knew no bound ; 

As Wife, as Parent, Friend, through life approved, 

By all applauded, and by all beloved ! 



136 RICHMOND HILL. 

Such Devon was — what Muse but must deplore 
The Sun of Beauty set to rise no more; 
The heart that oft with tender anguish bled, 
The liberal hand that famish' d thousands fed. 
Cold as the silent marble that contains, 
With solemn pomp inurn'd, her lov'd remains ! 
But while the soul remember' d virtue charms, 
Or gratitude the glowing bosom warms, 
The hapless victims, rescued from despair, 
Thy praises on their grateful tongues shall bear ; 
The widow's ardent vows to heav'n ascend, 
And at thy shrine the cherish'd orphan bend ; 
To latest ages shall thy fair renown, 
For worth, for beauty, glide, unsullied, down J 
And mid the cypress, waving o'er thy tomb, 
For ever bright, the deathless laurel bloom. 



RICHMOND HILL. 137 



MR. FOX. 

7. Insatiate still with spoil! th' offended Powr 
That rules, in wrath, o'er Britain's darker hour, 
Ere nine sad sorrowing months have roll'd around, 
Aims yet another shaft her peace to wound ; 
In deeper volumes rolls th' incumbent gloom, 
And gives her other Tully to the tomb ! 
The mighty soul of Pitt from earth retires ; 
For ever quench' d his daring Rival's fires ! 

Where are the Nine immortal Muses fled, 
The dirges chanted o'er the virtuous dead : 

7. At Chiswick Mr. Fox expired ; due honours are paid to the memory of the 
great Rival of Mr. Pitt — his wonderful talents and erudition; his ardent and 
comprehensive mind, his boundless philanthrophy — his magnanimous eulogy on 
his deceased rival. 

T 



138 RICHMOND HILL, 

Does no wild plaintive harp his praise resound, 
Whose honour' d brows their brightest laurels bound? 
Why, Brinsley, clothed with eloquence and fire, 
Wakes not thy kindling Muse the patriot lyre ; 
And Thou ! in whose refined and classic page 
The famed Castilian * shines with native rage, 
Whose learning charms us, while thy strains delight, 
That bring past ages to our raptured sight ; 
Why roams thy genius to a distant clime, 
Nor pours o'er kindred Worth tli ennobling rhyme ? 
Shall Fox unhonour'd slumber in the dust? 
Perish yon stars, but let the Muse be just! 

If matchless talents, boundless stretch of thought, 
If science at the sacred fountain sought ; 



* Lope de Vega : whose Life has recently been presented to the public by 
the noble Relative of Mr. Fox. 



RICHMOND HILL. 139 

A spirit, kindling with that fervid glow, 
Whence only great and daring actions flow ; 
If friendship, ardent, springing from the soul, 
That ne'er knew guile, nor interest's base controul; 
Philanthropy that burn'd tow'rds all mankind, 
By wide-spread seas, or continents disjoin'd, 
Where ever Phoebus 1 glowing axle rolls, 
Flames at the line, or glimmers at the poles ; 
But chief, on fire, beyond th' Atlantic wave, 
To rend the fetters of the groaning slave — 
If these — if heav n-born Genius give the claim 
To deathless laurels, and immortal Fame, 
That meed is thine — eternally inshrin'd, 
In every generous Briton's patriot mind. 

Virtues like these, above yon azure vault 
Of blazing orbs, our groveling race exalt — 



140 RICHMOND HILL. 

Virtues, like these, make trivial faults appear, 
As the faint spots on day's refulgent sphere ! 
Yet not for these the Muse resounds thy praise, 
Nor that thy genius pour'd the living lays ; 
But that with fervid and electric strain 
That warnid the raptur'd hearer's throbbing vein, 
Thy powerful voice that rival's glory spread, 
And gave due honours to the mighty dead. 

No more your thunders strike th' admiring ear, 
But close by his is laid thy laurell'd bier: 
Extinguished high ambition's glorious thirst, 
Together mingled your distinguish' d dust — 
In peace repose, where yon imperial dome 
O'er shrouded grandeur throws its awful gloom, 
Where kings and heroes strew the hallow'd floor, 
" And York and Lancaster are foes no more!' 



RICHMOND HILL. 141 



ROEHAMPTON. 

8. With many a proud and glittering Villa crown' d, 
And lofty woods that rise majestic round, 
Dark o'er the spacious stream that spreads below, 
Roehampton rears, sublime, its stately brow ; 
While in the sumptuous domes those woods o'ershade, 
The wealth of either India shines display'd. 

Let nations, once her rivals in renown, 
Now basely crouching at a tyrant's frown! 
Their eyes tow'rds happy, envied Britain bend, 
Where still a valiant race her shores defend — 



8. Roehampton, Benjamin Goldsmid, Esq. — East Sheen, Henry Hope, Esq, 
— Thomas Hope, Esq. 



142, RICHMOND HILL. 

Of gallant Nobles who for glory burn, 
Of fearless Gentry, who a despot spurn, 
A hardy peasantry, whose sires of old, 
On Rome's brave bands the storm of battle roll'd — 
And, while they view thro' Europe's plunder'd plains, 
Extinguish'd Faith, and Commerce bound in chains! 
Mark in what grandeur reign, in freedom's smile, 
The Merchant Princes* of her sea-girt isle; 
What countless wealth, in glowing gems and ore, 
Their navies waft them from each distant shore — 
From realms, where Indus rolls his foaming tide, 
Or Gambia's waves through burning desarts glide — 
Nor wastefully consum'd the shining hoard, 
Though costliest viands crown the festive board ; 

* In Scripture it is said of Tyre; " Whose Merchants are Princes." Isaiah 
xxiii. 3. With what decisive truth may this, also, be asserted of the Merchants 
of Britain? 



RICHMOND HILL. \4S 

Cheer d by their smile, and by their bounty fed, 
Disease and Famine rear the drooping head/ 
Despair's wan cheek the flush of life resumes, 
And fading Beauty with new roses blooms. 

Foremost mid these, a Goldsmid's honour' d name 
Shines on the roll of high, commercial fame ; 

r 

Not less for virtue than for wealth renown d, 
A Goldsmid's name these vocal glades resound; 
Who, by no sordid principles confin'd, 
That chain to earth the Bigot's grov'ling mind, 
Free as the gales that round his Eden blow, 
Bids the rich current of his bounty flow. 

* The charities of Messrs. Goldsmid, like those of the illustrious foreigners 
mentioned in the succeeding Section, are said to be of the most extensive de- 
scription ; there existing scarcely a public institution of that nature to which 
they are not subscribers ; while their names are always remarked among the first 
on the formation of any plan to relieve public distress, or promote national pros- 
perity. 



144 RICHMOND HILL, 

Amid those towering elms' majestic shade, 
Those lawns in Spring's eternal robe array 'd, 
With Attic elegance and taste design' d, 
Congenial with the generous owner's mind, 
How nobly, on the hill's delightful rise, 
That opes Elysium to our wond'ring eyes, 
In the mild radiance of declining day, 
Does yon fair Dome its beauteous front display ! 
Again through proud exotic bow'rs I rove,* 
And drink the fragrance of the orange grove ; 
Refulgent birds my raptured eyes behold, 
With crests in crimson dipt, and plumes of gold ; 
Sabaea's richest odours breathe around, 
Brazilian flow'rs adorn the glowing ground ; 

* In Mr. Goldsmid's grounds and gardens are cultivated a variety of very 
rare exotics ; the orange plants are remarkably fine ; and they contain a beau- 
tiful aviary. 



RICHMOND HILL. 145 

Here glittering lakes reflect the Solar gleam, 
There high-arch'd groves repel th 1 intrusive beam — 
Here, cloth'd with woods, the swelling hills ascend, 
There lengthening valleys, rich in pasture, bend. 
Whate'er, in rural scenes, can yield delight, 
Whatever charm the soul, or feast the sight, 
Goldsmid, is thine, amid these lovely bow'rs, 
Where fav'ring Heav'n its choicest blessings show'rs! 
With courtiers mixing, but with vice unstain'd, 
Here Worth enjoys what genuine talents gain'd: 
Bright flames the nuptial torch, whose genial ray 
Shed its pure lustre on thy youthful day — 
Never did parent livelier transport feel, 
Never did offspring burn with fonder zeal! 

Deep in the groves of rural Sheen retired, 
With patriot zeal for fall'n Batavia fired, 

u 



146 RICHMOND HILL. 

Where monsters, black withcrimes, and stain dwithblood, 
Crush the bold race who Alva's rage withstood ; 
Great Patron of the Arts thy soul adores, 
On happier Britain's yet unravaged shores; 
Accomplish'd Hope, to Thee, on every plain, 
Her grateful Muses wake th' enraptur'd strain. 
To Thee, her eye exulting, Science turns, 
While with new hres rekindling Genius burns! 
With matchless splendour thro' thy dome display'd, 
Are seen the radiant tints that never fade ; 
Whatever bold in style, or warm in thought, 
Vandyke design' d, or daring Rubens taught. 
'Twas in those groves, in Europe's happier day, 
Batavia's Friend! great Temple" loved to stray; 

*The celebrated Sir William Temple resided at West Sheen, and, as has been 
before observed, within the precints of the Monastery ; it was his brother, Sir 
John Temple, who lived at East Sheen, in the house lately belonging to his 
great grand-son, Lord Viscount Palmerston, but who was frequently visited 
by his brother of West Sheen. 



RICHMOND HILL. 147 

For freedom glowing, still his patriot mind, 
To crush the Gaul, some daring scheme design d ; 
How would he rage to see his flag unfurl' d, 
O'er half the kingdoms of the ravag'd world! 

Thou, too, whom kindred taste and ties unite,* 
Whom storied roofs and pictured pomp delight, 
Statues, amid the wreck of Athens sought, 
And Urns, and breathing Busts from Latium brought! 
Thou ! in whose breast the generous ardours roll, 
That fired a Harley's and a Colbert's soul, 
While Taste and Talent in our isle survive, 
Immortal on her classic page shall live ! 

* Thomas Hope, Esq. whose extensive and valuable collection of paintings, 
and antiquities of every kind, is unrivalled. 



148 RICHMOND HILL. 



DUKE OF CLARENCE. 

9 . With rapid gliding wheels the car of day, 
Bends to the western deep its burning way ; 
Th' exulting Muse, on wide expanded wings, 
High through th' unfathom'd fields of aether springs, 
While, stretch'd below, a lovelier landscape lies, 
Than ever charm' d beneath Arcadian skies ! 
To paint those charms the pow'rs of language fail, 
The glowing beauty of that matchless vale ; 
That noble River, where, in festive pride, 
A thousand stately barks triumphant glide ; 

9. Bushy Park ; Duke of Clarence. 



RICHMOND HILL. 149 

The fields, with Ceres' golden treasures crown' d, 
The pastures where a thousand coursers bound ; 
The woods, all crimson' d with Hesperian fires, 
Proud castles, glitt'ring fanes, and blazing spires. 

From bowery Richmond's pomp of deep'ning shade, 
For ever with increas'd delight survey' d, 
Bear me, soft gales ! to Bushy' s lofty grove, 
Where Genius, Love, and raptured Clarence rove; 
Clarence, his scepter'd Sire's, his Country's pride! 
Her boast on land, her bulwark on the tide. 

When Nelson's Spirit to the realms of light 
On seraph pinions bent its rapid flight, 
Though heap'd around him lay the vanquish'd foe, 
To her deep centre Britain felt the blow — 
From her bright eye the sparkling radiance fled, 
O'er her wan cheek a deadly paleness spread, 



150 RICHMOND HILL. 

She pined in secret, mid triumphal palms, 
And Victory itself lost half its charms — 
But when, at length, her tear-fraught eye she raised, 
And on the dauntless band delighted gazed, 
That yet remain' d on her loved isle, to sweep, 
With Nelson's skill and fire, the subject deep, 
But chief her Clarence — who with ardour fired. 
Like that which Cressy's victor chief inspir'd, 
With fearless Rodney, while a stripling, bore 
Her thunder to Columbia's distant shore;" 
More dreadful than the tropic blast descends, 
Or mad tornado that her mountains rends — 



* It is perhaps with some latitude of expression, that the West India Islands, 
the scene of Lord Rodney's celebrated victory over De Grasse, are considered as 
part of America; but there can be little doubt of their having once formed a 
portion of that vast continent, till rent from it by some violent and dreadful 
convulsion of nature. 



RICHMOND HILL. 151 

Or where Gibraltar rears its rocky brow, 
Sublime above the flood that raves below ; 
Launch' d its dread bolt upon th' Iberian main, 
And tore the laurel from insulting Spain : * 
The radiant lustre to her eye return'd, 
Her cheek with renovated crimson burn'd ; 
Eager she grasp' d th' unconquerable blade, 
And all the terrors of her shield display'd. 

" And still, at Mine and Glory's call,' she cries, 
" From love's soft toils shall valiant Clarence rise ; 
" To distant realms my blazing standard bear, 
" The polar frost, the Lybian fervours dare — 
" Wake all my thunders, all my vengeance wield, 
" A second Rodney on the watery field! 



"* Alluding to his other famous victory, off Gibraltar, over Admiral Langara, 
in January 1780. 



152 RICHMOND HILL. 

" While in his lovely progeny 1 trace, 

" The dauntless rivals of great Edward's race ; 

" Still crown' d with laurels on the embattled plain; 

" Triumphant ever on the boundless main.' 



HAMPTON COURT. 

10. Where yon proud Palace views the sparkling tide 
Beneath its stately tow'rs serenely glide, 
Descending from her flight, the pensive Muse 
Through many a flow'ry maze her path pursues — 
Hampton, thy spacious lawns delighted roves, 
Thy high pavilion'd bow'rs, thy green alcoves, 
In all the glow of summer pomp array' d, 
That oft o'er kings have stretch'd their mighty shade. 

10. Hampton Court ; Cardinal Wolsey — the Cartoons. 



RICHMOND HILL. 153 

What, though in antiquated garb'they rise, 
Nor, Brown, thy Genius charms our roving eyes;" 
Majestic still, their tow'ring shades invite, 
And with a rude magnificence delight. 

While, o'er the proud and spacious dome she strays, 
And the high Gothic Hall attracts her gaze, 
Where scarce an empire's treasures would defray 
The boundless banquet of one festive day ; 
At every pore though injured Britain bled, 
And from her poor was wrung the scanty bread ; 
Let not resentment's kindling rage deny 
To fall'n magnificence, the transient sigh, 
As long-lapsed ages o'er her memory roll, , 
And Wolsey rushes on her pensive soul — - 

* Brown is said to have declined a proposal made him by his present Majesty, 
newly to arrange the grounds and gardens at Hampton ; declaring that in their 
present, rather Gothic style of decoration, they were best adapted to the sombre 
grandeur of the place. 

'X 



154 RICHMOND HILL. 

Wolsey, now tow' ring in his eagle flight, 
Now headlong hurl'd from his meridian height- — 
Such dire extremes on ill-got pow'r attend, 
Such, guilty grandeur! thy disastrous end. 

Bright rose the morn, and on his opening day 
Genius and science pour'd their blended ray, 
His radiant noon with regal splendor glow'd, 
And fortune in a dazzling current flow'd ! 
So crown' d with honours — the admiring crowd, 
As to a God, with prostrate reverence bow'd — 
Around his board obedient nobles wait, 
And suppliant princes tremble at his gate — 
His setting orb thick clouds and darkness veil, 
And loud and boisterous blows the adverse gale — 
In the red sky dark brooding thunders low'r, 
Strike the proud fabric of gigantic pow'r; 



RICHMOND HILL. 155 

High-swoll'n ambitions daring schemes confound, 
And level all his glory with the ground. 
Thus, while yon lofty battlements proclaim 
To Britain's sons their mitred founder's fame, 
An awful lesson those dumb tow'rs declare, 
And bid them of that dreadful steep beware ; 
Whence, at exulting fortune's proudest height, 
Great Wolsey sunk to everlasting night ! 

Ye mighty Masters of the great Design ! 
Whose labours round on living tablets shine ; 
But chiefly thou, whose daring strokes impart, 
Unbounded transport to the throbbing heart, 
Raphael, all hail! — great Homer of thy day, 
Thy works immortal, like his deathless lay — 
But oh! sublimer themes thy fancy fir'd, 
A nobler Muse by Sinai's brook inspired ! 



156 RICHMOND HILL. 

Or if, to Athens' tow'rs* thy Genius roves — 
We hear Paul's thunder shake her blasted groves ; 
We see the high-rais'd arm, the flowing stole, 
The beaming lightnings in his eye that roll; 
While his commanding air and mien disclose 
The inspiring God that in his bosom glows! 
In yon divine Cartoons — yon proud display, 
Of Genius blazing in its noontide ray — 
Whate'er sublime in each preceding age, 
Or Grecian skill hath dar'd, or Roman rage, 
Surpass' d by Raphael's matchless powers we find, 
The lofty darings of a Godlike mind ! 

* Alluding to the celebrated Cartoon of " St. Paul preaching at Athens." 



RICHMOND HILL. 157 



WINDSOR CASTLE. 

11. Where yonder hills, in crimson splendour drest, 
Reflect the dazz'ling beam that fires the west, 
And day's bright orb, suffus'd with glowing red, 
Hastens to plunge in ocean's mighty bed — 
Windsor's embattled towers, distinctly bright, 
Now burst, in grandeur, on the astonish'd sight; 
Above the clouds their lofty summits rear, 
Nor the fierce rage of driving tempests fear! 

Stupendous Pile ! by dauntless Edward rais'd, 
Where Britain's standard has for ages blaz'd, 
And while those walls of adamant remain 
Shall still triumphant shade the hallow' d plain. 

11. Windsor Castle; the Order of the Garter, 



158 RICHMOND HILL. 

Sublime upon the bastion d heights that bear, 

Britannia's sleeping thunders, poised in air ! 

That oft the storm of battle have withstood, 

And oft been drench' d with streams of hostile blood, 

Glory, the guardian Genius that inspires 

Her high-born chiefs, and lights the warrior's fires, 

Array'd in bright celestial armour stands, 

Wide round her tutelary wing expands, 

'Gainst Time and Death's united rage contends, 

And from Oblivion's grasp her offspring rends. 

Roused by her animating voice, of yore, 
He, who her crimson cross to Cressy bore, 
Encircled by a warrior train, renown' d 
For valiant deeds, thro' Europe's distant bound, 
There, first, the Garter's gorgeous pomp display'd, 
By distant ages with delight survey'd! 



RICHMOND HILL. 159 

No emblem of unhallow'd love design'd,* 
But in eternal bonds the brave to bind — 
There, while around the warlike trumpets roll'd 

Those lofty symphonies that fire the bold, 
With waving plume, in polish'd armour bright, 
Rush'd to the tournament the hardy knight — 
The George that on his breast refulgent gleam'd, 
The burnish'd Lions on his crest that beam'd, 
The daring son of Chivalry proclaim. 
And in the fight his martial rage inflame. 
There, not unmindful of his generous blood, 
From monarchs roll'd, a pure untainted flood, 
That Sable Youth, the scourge of hostile France ! 
Rais'd the bright targe, and hurl'd th' unerring lance. 

* The principle of the institution, according to the records of the Order itself, 
was, Utmilitarem virtuem honoribus, prsemio, atque splendore decoret, To adorn 
martial virtue, with honour, rewards, and splendour; which utterly excludes any 
less dignified cause of its foundation. The Garter is considered as the sacred 
pledge, the band of amity, between the Companions of the Order, 



160 RICHMOND HILL 

Beneath his spear as bends the vanquish' d foe, 
With smiles the monarch's bright' ning features glow ; 
Applauding shouts from raptur'd myriads rise, 
While Beauty waves aloft the dazzling prize. 

What daring pencil, what exalted lyre, 
To paint imperial Windsor shall aspire ? 
Which mightiest kings, in its proud chambers born, 
With richest gifts have labour' d to adorn — 
From Afrit's shores, with gold and ivory fraught, 
And treasures from the distant Ganges brought ; 
What verse describe that high-arch'd/' glorious shrine, 
Where the proud pictured roofs unrivall'd shine, 
With tints that emulate the vivid dies 
Resplendent Iris lights in eastern skies ; 
Forms that in radiant aether seem to move, 
The flame-wing d heralds of celestial Love ; 

* St. George's Chapel. 



RICHMOND HILL. 161 

While round the walls, in rival pomp array' d, 

The boldest pow'rs of Genius are display'd, 

In blazon' d stories from the sacred page, 

And symbols hallow' d through each rolling age : 

But chief that Symbol,* glorious to behold ! 

That blaz'd o'er Bethlem, flames in burnish'd gold. 

To Painting, Music adds her strong controul 

O'er all the functions of the vanquish'd soul — 

Hark! piercing Heav'n's high vault the choral strain, 

Unbounded flowing, fills the spacious fane ; 

While, in deep concert with th' according shell, 

Rolls the loud Organ's diapason swell. 

What radiant portraits, rich with life, illume 
The lofty chambers of this princely dome? 

* Independently of its lustre and beauty, as an heraldic ornament, the use of 
the Star, in ancient times, had doubtless a religious origin, like that ascribed 
to it in the text ; for instance, all the members of the Priory of Bethlem in 
London, wore a Star, in allusion to that awful event. 



162 RICHMOND HILL. 

But chief that spacious, high-emblazon' d Hall,* 
Where martial trophies deck the storied wall ; 
Beneath whose roofs, in Britain's elder time, 
The dauntless Baron stalk'd, of port sublime ! 
With high-raised arm the threat'ning lance display'd, 
While tyrants trembled at the brandish' d blade; 
Or, as the goblet roll'd its festive round, 
With warlike songs the thund ring roofs resound ; 
St. George's feats the glowing walls proclaim, 
And Edward's triumphs set their souls on flame : 
" Conquest be ours, or glorious death," they cry, 
" St. George and England!" rend the vaulted sky — 
They clash the glitt'ring spear, the burnish' d shield, 
They rush, in fancy, to th' ensanguin'd field ; 
Their fiery steeds, that spurn the trembling ground, 
O'er Gallia's trampled hosts impetuous bound, 

* St. George's Hall. 



RICHMOND HILL. 163 



New Cressys groan beneath the heaps of slain, 
New kings, reluctant, drag the galling chain. 



THE NEW PALACE. 

12. Enough of arms — enough the battle's rage 
Hath roll'd, resounding, thro' the lofty page : 
Hence, fierce Bellona, with thy blood-staind car, 
And all the thunder of the mingled war — 
Fatigued with glory, dazzled with its beams, 
The light that from yon roofs refulgent streams — 
Rejoiced, the Muse from Windsor's bastion'd height, 
To Sheen's lov'd valley bends her homeward flight ; 

12. The Poem concludes with a view of the New Palace erecting at Kew, 
and fervent wishes for the restoration of the blessings of Peace to desolated 
Europe. 



164 RICHMOND HILL. 

More pleased to view, around yon stately Dome, 
The peaceful olive's deathless verdure bloom — 
Yon Dome, that soaring high in Gothic pride, 
In majesty o'erlooks the wond'ring tide, 
With nobler pomp than Henry's pierc'd the skies, 
The massy walls, th J embattled turrets rise ; 
To last — while Time's impetuous stream shall roll, 
And George's Virtues charm the patriot soul ! 
Oh! long may his beloved, illustrious line, 
Beneath those shades, their native bow'r, recline ; 
And as, from beauteous Sheen's sequester'd glooms, 
They view the paradise that round them blooms, 
The dawn of brighter centuries behold, 
Than ever yet o'er favour' d Britain roll'd ; 
See grateful nations, righted by her sword, 
See exiled monarchs to their crowns restor'd, 



RICHMOND HILL. 165 

See Gaul's crush'd Hydra bite the victor's chain, 
And boundless concord spread o'er earth and main! 

Rise, dove-eyed PEACE, and on thy halcyon wings 
Waft the rich odours of a thousand springs ; 
While every gale that round the compass blows, 
The treasures of a grateful world bestows. — 
Or if, for glorious ends, to all unknown, 
Save Him, who sits on Heavn's eternal throne, 
Whose herald angels o'er the storm preside, 
And on the whirlwind's light'ning pinions ride, 
War still must rage, and o'er this darken'd sphere, 
Gaul's ruthless tyrant urge his dire career — 
May the bright Cherubim, in flames array' d, 
Descend in glory with that two-edged blade, 
Which, darting every way its dazzling beam, 
Illumin'd Eden with its fiery stream — 



166 RICHMOND HILL. 

And hovering round Britannia's guarded shore, 
The bright effulgence of its glory pour ; 
Her valiant offspring cherish' d by the rays, 
Her foes consum'd by the devouring blaze ! 



FINIS. 



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